30 SesshRin Kisses
by SSRandomness
Summary: One-shots by: Sephora. The "30 kisses" challenge: write 30 stories involving kissing with pre-meditated prompts. I've chosen a Sesshoumaru/Rin twist! Other pairings will be canon. Content varies in rating: K-M. *12/06/11- new chapter up!
1. Before We Begin

Before We Begin: An Author's Introduction

Hello There! My name is Sephora and I've managed this account with my friend Sabrina for going on four years now…and we've accomplished very little. This is my plan to make amends for these failures.

If I had a penny for every Sesshoumaru+Rin FanFiction idea floating around in my head I'd have more money than I could EVER spend in my entire life. In all seriousness: SesshRin fanfiction comes first in my life before everything else (God, I need a man) followed closely by music. Funny how I eat/sleep/drink Sesshoumaru and Rin but can't seem to spit out a good fanfic, ne? That's where Sanjuu Kisu comes in!

I was walking around with my iPod yesterday mapping out the plotline for one of my fics (that I wholly intend to post up here quite soon) and I happened, as is quite common, upon a new fic idea. But the plot was haphazard and I knew it wouldn't work out, so I was a bit sad for the loss of a good idea.

Now, my life revolves around music: the average day involves getting up, grabbing a quick snack, walking to the bus stop with my iPod, getting on the bus and listening to the iPod for 30 minutes, turning it off for school, and turning it back on the moment I'm out the doors after which it does not go off until I'm safely in bed. Yeah…I need a life.

I got some new songs yesterday and, being a musician, my fics usually find inspiration from songs. Sometimes the words, other times the mere flow of the music can build up an entire story in my head in a day. That happened yesterday. TWICE.

I was walking along trying to think of a way to solve my problems when I remembered someone on writing one of the 30 kisses challenges for Sesshoumaru and Rin and the esteemed Kirayasha aka Kira wrote one of the challenges for Jakotsu/Bankotsu. So I decided I'd give it a whirl myself.

RULES:

The Live journal Community "Thirty Kisses", which I'm not a part of because I don't have a live journal and don't want one, dictated 30 words/phrases that must inspire 30 little vignettes for one pairing.

LJ specified they need not be in any order as long as they are all there.

Some of these prompts are going to give me problems (ie: "Wada Calcium cd3" and "Kilohertz") but I'll work it out somehow. :D

This is the perfect challenge for me: by writing something short I'll be able to convince myself to actually WRITE THE DAMN THING OUT. I'll be able to finally finish something (one of the main reasons I never post anything up here is because I never actually want to end the stories), And I can input into these vignettes the little fic ideas I've let vanish into the back of my brain and rot: they can finally have their chance to shine.

MY RULES:

I will, because this is Thirty Kisses, try to put a kiss in every one-shot, but I will not guarantee them. I do love a good SesshRin smooch. :P

I write AU fics best, but I'm reserving the right to have handful of original InuYasha plot ficlets in here, too.

I will post the details of the plot (character age, time period, existence of youkai, etc) at the top of the chapter before the fic begins.

I will ATTEMPT to post one-two chapters per every TWO WEEKS.

Some fics will be very innocent in nature (a kiss on the cheek) others…not so much (heavy petting?). Viewer discretion is advised. I've always wanted to say that…XD

Without any further ado, read on! And please, please, PLEASE review if you like them (or don't like them). Criticism and compliments are always welcome. Unless you flame me, which is not welcome.

Enjoy!

-Sephora.


	2. 1: Look Over Here

Look Over Here

Number one on the Thirty Kisses prompt list, this is my interpretation of "Look Over Here". The idea actually came to me the other day when I was walking along and I thought it was a nice idea but it didn't have enough meat to be a full-length fic. That's when I decided to do the Thirty Kisses challenge, so this I suppose is the whole start of the idea!

In my Author's Note I mentioned that most of these stories will be influenced by music. That is definitely true for this one.

The song "Sakura, Sakura" is a very famous traditional song often performed with a Geisha's dance. I bought it on iTunes and as soon as I heard it again this little fic popped into my head. "Sakura, Sakura", "Go the Distance" from Disney's "Hercules", the symphonic arrangements of "Grip!" and "Every Heart" from the InuYasha "Wind: symphonic themes" album, "When she Loved me" from "Toy Story 2", and the "Homage for InuYasha Piano Solo" all inspired this story. If you have any of them, give 'em a listen while you read this story. Now, I've never written from Sesshoumaru's POV, so please bare with me if it's awkward.

Beginning with the original plot, then picking up in the present AU.

Sesshoumaru- 600+ years old.

Rin- 26 years old

DISCLAIMER: I do not own InuYasha or any of its' characters, nor do I own the rights to any of the aforementioned songs.

**Look Over Here**

**

* * *

**

"Look, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

She is frail. Gray in color as the cloth she is wrapped in. She is thin and weak, a weightless paper-like thing resting against my leg.

"Look! Look over there! A falling star!"

Yet with such energy she lifts her arm to the heavens and points a shaking finger at the glimmering sliver of light as it sails down from its' deep black abyss of sky and into the welcoming bosom of a far off green hill.

"Quick," She is telling me, gripping my leg with her slender hand, "Make a wish."

I watch as her eyes, alight and shining with white starlight, let themselves be lidded slowly as she inhales quick, ragged little breaths through her nose. I watch her breathe in and out, watch the shuddering rise and fall of her chest and the gentle swell of her breasts. She is young yet, barely a woman. She does not deserve this end to her life.

And I can do nothing to stop it. I am powerless.

She squirms a little as her eyes open and I can see for an instant all her pain, her sadness, her fatigue. I have the gut wrenching urge to rip my heart from my ribcage and give it to her, but that would do her no good.

She instantly replaces her expression of pain with a new one of weary happiness. She looks at me with big, bright black eyes that shine with hope. What an amazing human emotion hope is. This thing keeps her going in her pain and frailty, keeps her strong enough to live through this slow death. She smiles at me through thin, chapped lips.

"Did you make a wish?" She asks me gently. I shake my head. She smiles a wider, brighter smile and her eyes crinkle lightly. "You don't want to make one?" she queries. I shake my head no. She is quiet, still smiling up at me, studying me with those beautiful eyes. I watch her watch me, eyeing her hand as it travels to my ear, wraps itself in a strand of my hair.

"You made a wish, Rin." I say, my voice sounds far off, grave and solemn, unable to comfort her.

"Hai," she replies quietly.

A moment passes in silence and there is nothing in the world but her, the wind acknowledging her with a playful gust sent spiraling through her dark hair. She gives a weak and empty chuckle.

"You want to know what I wished for, is that it?" she asks, leaning back again to face me. I nod. She is laughing now, a warm, sincere laugh that I have not heard for quite some time. I am warmed by it, numbed by it, and left to hear its' echoes all around me after the laugh has subsided into silence once more.

"I can't tell you." She says in a cheery little tone. I blink down at her. Her expression changes, becomes wistful and soft. "If I tell you what I wished for," she whispers, "It'll never come true." She looks at me with a melancholy longing that gives my chest a terrible burning, freezing ache. Her eyes are half-lidded now, fatigue and anguish scrawled all across her pale face. I place my hand on her shoulder and recoil slightly; she is cold, as though she were made of ice. I grip her tightly: my Rin is a warm, youthful, explosion of color and sound and joy. This is not my Rin.

She takes in a deep rattling breath and it is a mistake, her eyes open wide immediately and frantically she lifts herself from the ground, coughing out what little air was in her lungs to begin with. She is wracked with convulsing whoops of air, her back bowing as she sucks in desperate amounts of it, only for her diaphragm to push it all out with a venomous dry hiss and crack. It is a while before she is through, the longest spell she has had yet since first she became ill. I back away.

Phlegm and fluid from her congested lungs spatter onto the grass beneath her until at last she is sick, the yellowish bile pouring from her with a steaming acidic heat until her stomach is empty and her lungs can give no more. She gathers all her strength to sit up and crawl away from her mess, weak, shaking, and winded. She collapses in the grass a ways up the hill.

I bring her into my lap again, a thin little creature, rasping weakly for breath. Her heart is barely beating inside the wreckage of her chest, and her body barely moves with each tiny breath she takes. I am repeating her name, but she cannot hear it. I bring her into my arms, sitting her up and pouring the tiniest amount of water from the bamboo pitcher into her mouth. She coughs and sputters again and I set the water down, patting her back until the wet coughs at last subside, and her shallow breathing is somewhat steady. I wipe the vomit at the corner of her mouth away with my sleeve, and note with a wince that there are bright strands of blood in the liquid. I look at Rin, her head resting against my chest, nestled in the soft fur around my shoulder. The hairs of the pelt move in and out as she breathes on them and I can see blood on her tongue through her open mouth.

I call her name again, but still she does not respond. So I begin to hum, I hum the little tune she always sings when she picks her herbs and her flowers, when she sews for the old woman, for InuYasha's children, and for the monk and taijya and their offspring. I hum the song she always sings to banish fear, to lull the newborn babies she helped birth to sleep. I hum for this land she loves and I hum in hopes that she will hear me and wake. Hope. There it is again.

But she is fading now. I can barely feel her breath against my hand when I bring it to her mouth. I run my fingers along her chapped lips, her sunken cheeks, the edge of her long eyelashes, the outside of her ear. I am humming as I stroke her long, beautiful hair. I close my eyes and listen to nature: to the wind, whose howling has died down out of respect, to the birds, to the stream rushing softly along its path unhindered.

Nature continues on as though Rin is not dying in its' presence.

I open my eye to look her over. The heart is barely making a sound; the lungs are barely working at all now. What cruelty is it that as her heartbeat slows mine quickens?

I bring my left hand to cup her face gently and I close my eyes, slowly bending my face to hers. I whisper her name one last time, and still she cannot hear me. But she can feel me.

As I press my lips to her forehead I wonder at the soft feeling of her skin against mine and the tickle of her hair against my face. I inhale the scent at the root of her hair, where death and sickness have not yet come to rest. Bittersweet, the smell is. Yes, I understand that now. Bittersweet.

And then she is gone.

No sooner has she passed than I open my eyes. She is perfectly still, serene and at rest in my arms. She is limp and nearly weightless as I hold her, an unsuitable remnant of a beautiful life. Lost. Forever lost.

I watch her. I simply look at her. All she was and all she is pass through me like a fish into water, an effortless connection between two souls, one living...and one dead.

I look back up to the sky and silently curse the gray clouds for the rain they are pouring onto her face, but no water falls from the clear skies tonight. The salt on my face is dripping onto hers as slowly as time itself.

If this is what it means to cry, if this is what it means to feel pain irreversible by time and healing, then I will suffer them both for her. I will cry over Rin.

* * *

The arena is packed full of people: ningen, hanyou and youkai alike. I have already informed Koga that I care nothing for this sort of thing yet he insisted we meet here. He sits down beside me as he folds his coat and places it behind him in the chair, assuring me with a wolfish grin that this "friend" who wishes to meet me is quite worth my suffering. I assure Koga as well that if this person is not worth my while Koga will find himself- or rather his head- on a plaque in my apartment.

The house lights are dimming now in a slow, repeated, methodic call to seats. When at last the lights die, it is sudden and quick like a flash of lightning and I can hear ningen all around me squawking and grunting as they attempt to find their seats in the black.

Time passes slowly for me in this place. Ironic, really. A human year passes by me quickly like a shower of brief rain or a solitary month of one season. Perhaps it is my conclusive hatred of this show before its' beginning that makes time linger so long on my watching eyes.

In the blink of a human eye, the lights are up. They are harsh white lights hanging from the rails above the catwalk, dousing the geisha on stage with a glaring fluorescent glow. She seems remarkably unhindered by the brightness and as the first ringing twang from the shamisen sounds behind her she begins to dance. The music takes me back, back beyond any human memory. The dance bores me after a moment and I close my eyes and savor the almost ugly sound of the geisha at the back of the stage: one tentatively plucking at the shamisen, another making guttural almost animalistic vocals in a deep, hollow voice.

The song ends, the audience claps, the geisha exit in a blackout. Then the cycle begins again, only now there are two geisha and they are sporting fans instead of the first's parasol. The musicians have added a geisha drummer. The routine begins again.

I swore I would kill this wolf before the night is over and I intend to: one dance was enough, six is quite a bit more than enough. The crowd is applauding as I massage my temples and another blackout proclaims the transition into the sixth and final performance. I shut my eyes again, relish the darkness and try to find quiet, try to find somewhere where I cannot hear the loud clap of Koga's massive hands striking against one another or the voices of five-hundred people circled all about me.

When the applause dies there is an expectant silence. The lights do not come up again. I sit back and wait for the end of this tedious night.

There is something in the dark now. My eyes are open, yet I feel blind. I see nothing in the dark. Time seems to drip as though from a leaky faucet, slowly and steadily hammering a pulse into my brain. I am searching the darkness now, for what I cannot know. Something here has my hackles up and every sense alert. I inhale sharply through my nose. Something faint is haunting me.

The koto rings out in a peal of eerie echoes; quickly, as though one of the geisha were dancing on its strings. I swivel in my seat towards stage left. The music is ascending from a corner there in beautiful arcing waves, tickling my ears and washing over me like the ocean in a winter wind. I can see nothing but the bare glint of the strings as they are plucked in the dark and the wave of the musician's arms.

Something is hypnotic about this music. I feel on edge and almost paranoid in this cloying space. I cannot turn away. The minute I allow my eyes to wander to where the geisha must be somewhere onstage, I am instantly drawn back towards the koto. Some presence is beckoning me. _Look over here, look over here!_

I am listening. A voice joins the koto, echoing with such grace and strength through the arena that I can feel every person around me react to the sounds.

_Haru….Haru…. _

And suddenly I know the voice. I know her voice as though it were the very core of me. I know her voice after years of hearing it sound again and again in the memories I keep. I know her voice better than my own and it echoes all around this black room, swallowing me up and chilling me until I am numb with it. The lights are up and the geisha have begun their dance, but the musician is left in the dark, only her koto sounding over the geishas' shuffled steps. In the corner of my eye, Koga is facing me. I turn to look at him. He is grinning a strange wolfy grin. He nods slowly.

_**Rin….**_

I turn back to the stage. It is then that she begins to sing.

_Sakura, Sakura,_

_Yayoi no sora wa,_

_Mi watasu kagiri,_

_Kasumi ka kumo ka, _

_Nioi zo izuru. _

The lights fade in above her, revealing a beautiful young woman. She is dressed in marvelous layers of kimono in shades of peach, orange and green. Her deep brown hair is styled similar to the geisha onstage and she is marked by one dangling pin on the left side of her head as a maiko of a well-known okiya. Her face, however, is not painted like the geisha. She is gently made up for the stage and her youthful color shows through the make up on her cheeks. Long, delicate lashes frame a pair of shining, beautiful black eyes. Her voice is like a thousand bells ringing at once, irresistible peals of joy and mirth. She has taken this emotional voice and transformed it into a haunting and beautiful instrument, projecting a quiet yet mighty sound throughout the arena.

_Iza ya, Iza ya;_

_Mi ni yukan. _

She repeats the verse, the crowd paying more attention to her music than to the dance she is playing for. The song rattles me. The voice rattles me. And as she scans the crowd with _those eyes_… she lingers on me for a moment. She smiles as she draws from her lips the last consonant of the word, humming it through her lips and teeth. I am hit with a wave of nostalgia; of emotions I had long forgotten, of a song I had not hummed in many centuries….

She looked at me and _she knew me._ I could not fathom how, but she _knew me._

Then, it is over. The geisha are frozen and Rin's beautiful eyes, full of feeling, are staring straight into mine. The arena goes black. The audience is so dumbstruck for a moment they are unsure whether to clap. The lights are up and I find myself on the edge of my seat, half draped across the back of the seat in front of me, still staring at the stage where she had been just moments ago.

Koga is laughing as we leave. He asks me if I like his friend. I dislocate his jaw in one swing.

He is still whining and moaning on about it when we reach the small park a few blocks away from the arena. I am aware that I am pacing but I also know I cannot stop.

"Sesshoumaru: she'll be here, don't piss yourself." He tells me. I send him a glance that has even this man I have known for centuries scampering backwards with his tail between his legs.

Time is slow again. Molasses slow. Asphalt slow. All the while I am wondering if this is not some sick fever-induced dream. All the while I am berating myself mentally and occasionally physically with a blow to a nearby trash bin. All the while I am convincing myself that Rin is dead, dead, dead! Gone and never coming back, my hopes will be dashed.

But that is it. I draw my hand from my head where I had been squeezing at my temples. I am hoping. I hope because _Rin_ taught me to hope.

The wind is moving her scent towards me, pure, unadulterated: how can this be? Even if this woman is her reincarnation, she cannot be the same Rin.

Can she?

She moves into view and I feel that burning, freezing feeling in my chest only my Rin could ever cause. She is breathtaking. Still dressed in her traditional garb, she has undone the elaborate pile of hair atop her head and the dark hair is cascading about her exactly as I remember it. I blink my eyes and she remains the same, not a hair of her blurred. She is no illusion.

I do not know how long I have been standing here staring at her, but she is still regarding me with that beautiful calm smile and those captivating eyes. She is watching me watch her, contemplating me as I contemplate her.

"How…?" I am stammering like a fool in her presence.

She is grinning at me yet, that smile growing bigger and wider until her face is aglow with her white teeth and the healthy crinkle of her eyes. She steps towards me slowly, allowing her hair to whip around her as the wind changes direction.

"Do you remember our fallen star, Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asks me timidly.

When I do not reply, she gives a wet little laugh and I can see tears welling up in her eyes, beginning to slip down her cheeks. She has stepped closer now and I am powerless to do anything but drink her in. She is smiling, yet still teary eyed.

In an instant she is quite close and has thrown her arms about me, crashing into me. I can feel her tears wetting my shirt as she presses her face into my chest.

"…This is what I wished for." She whispers. And I understand.

I have folded her up in my arms, gripping her as tightly as I can manage to without hurting her. She is strong now, but still so frail, so human, so _weak…_

As I stroke her hair I close my eyes and in the darkness I can see the night sky dotted with stars, each one of them shaping her face. I feel at peace. I feel at home. I feel…lucky.

I made the same wish.


	3. 24: Good Night

#2- (# 24) Good Night

This is number 24 on the Sanjuu Kisu list, and the extremely late second vignette in my series. I'M SORRY. Please don't throw fruit at me, I've been legitimately busy with testing and finals and I didn't actually intend for this to be the second fic in the first place. It's also a lot longer than the first one. Plus, I should really be working on my music theory work, but instead I chose this. My sincerest apologies for my slacking, but I'm afraid you're going to find it rather commonplace from here on out. XD Yeah, yeah, I know: I fail at life.

Anyway! This particular story features quite heavily on music so I thought it would be prudent to give you the names of the songs crucial to the story.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's recordings of "Fantasia 2000" come in quite handy here: I was listening to my iPod on shuffle one day and Shostakovich's piano concerto number two began to play and as soon as it did this whole scenario played out with it. :D

Songs:

-Any music from "Fantasia 2000" is good, seeing as that is the focus of the larger whole of this fic. However, any other classical music would do well in its stead (I have a lot of the original "Fantasia" music in my playlist for this story and that works well too.)

-DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH'S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, OP. 102, FIRST MOVEMENT, PLAYS A HUGE ROLE IN THIS STORY. It is on the soundtrack for "Fantasia 2000", the music behind the clip of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". I'm sure you can find it to listen to on imeem or radio blog if you do not have it, or purchase it on itunes. If none of those options are available to you, there are several videos on you tube of this section of the Disney film as well as performances by other orchestras (though I recommend the movie version because the recording is much cleaner.) Here's the link, take out the spaces: http:// www. Youtube .com /watch?v= Pof0WFlxA2o

-Other songs: "Firebird Suite" from "Fantasia 2000", "Pastoral Symphony no. 6" by Beethoven, "The Nutcracker Suite" by Tchaikovsky, "On a Clear Day" from "Kiki's Delivery Service", music from the album "Simple Gearle" by Stacey Earle, "Married Life" from the film "Up", and "No Air" the 'Glee' version….BUT MOSTLY SHOSTAKOVICH'S CONCERTO. :D

I live a ways away from Ravinia, the park mentioned here, on the outskirts of Chicagoland. Ravinia is a summer music festival of sorts with a few little stands selling food surrounding a large green lawn and a pavilion and stage where the musician's play as well as a few "Arts centers" in the back. Music at Ravinia isn't usually the kind of music I like, but I accompany my family and their friends occasionally and sit on the lawn. Aptly dubbed, the lawn is a huge picnic ground where people-watching is at its best: families bring food and lawn chairs and listen to live music being dispersed through large, black speakers. The rich and well-to-do bring candelabras and fine crystal to drink from as well as teakwood folding tables and ornate little folding chairs. In my opinion, if you really cared about the music being played you wouldn't sit on the lawn, you'd stand behind the pavilion and watch (that's what I usually do). Apparently they have a dance floor there now…

DISCLAIMER: I really don't know about the inner workings of Ravinia and its staff nor do I know _jack crap_ about the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. All characters herein are purely fictional and in no way meant to resemble anyone involved with Ravinia and/or the CSO. And I don't own InuYasha or the music in this story. Except for "Mariner's Song" which is actually a composition of mine intended for this fanfic. If you would like to listen to "Mariner's Song", you can see a video here: http:// www. Youtube .com/ watch?v= 8yPPeb1FImU . It is the first song performed ,that is me playing, and I am not as young as I look, I promise. XD

---

Rated: T for cussing

---

Translations:

Ano- "Um"

Oba-Chan- Aunt; endearing

Hai- yes, formal

Nani- what?

Gambatte- good luck (technically)

Obaa-Chan- Grandma; endearing

Chotto matte- wait up/ hold on a minute!

---

"…"- Spoken English.

'...'- Thoughts.

… - Spoken Japanese.

---

Present day AU- youkai do not exist.

Sesshoumaru- Twenty seven-eight-ish.

Rin- Twenty five-six-ish.

---

On with the show, and Happy New Year, all!

* * *

Good Night

"Teri, is the monitor up for backstage area three?"

"…"

"Teri?"

"…"

"TERI!!"

Teri Evans swished her long black bangs from her eyes and motioned to the tattooed man in front of her, with a sultry bat of her over-made-up eyes, to hold on for a moment.

"Teri?! Are you there?" The black walkie-talkie clipped to her belt crackled after each message. Teri rolled her eyes and removed it from its holster, bringing it to her face.

"Ya." She said in a rather Chicagoan monotone; "I'm right here".

"Where _are_ you?" asked Lana on the other end with an over-exaggerated huff.

"Out by the pavilion." Teri muttered back, eying the boy in front of her as he sauntered away towards another girl with a wave.

"Why? You're supposed to be in here with me checking the monitors, it's like, five minutes 'til show time!"

"Aw, shit…" Teri sighed as the tattooed boy kissed another girl on the cheek and strolled away towards the lawn with his hand in the girl's tight, white capris' back pocket. Teri noted the lime green, lacey thong showing through the woman's pants.

"How attractive…" she drawled out.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?! Boss is gonna be here, like, any minute now and I can't fucking find you!!" Screeched Lana, her orange-tanned face shaking as she gripped the walkie-talkie.

"Chill. I'm on my way." Teri replied, moseying her way back through the shade and up the red brick path towards the building at the back of the park.

"You, like, better run, kid!" said Lana, her flustered, know-it-all voice whining through the speaker, "Cuz itsa be my head for you not being here, you're, like, my partner, and I don't want boss mad at-! Oh…" Lana stopped.

Teri listened for Lana's breathy, bratty voice to resume its tirade, but straightened immediately when a different voice sounded over the static.

"Teri, why aren't you in the security room with your partner?"

Teri swallowed and began formulating an answer to her boss's query, but did not have the time to reply.

"You have thirty seconds to get in here before I move you to grounds crew for the week, starting… now."

With the thought of spearheading trash for hours well into early morning flooding her head, Teri sprinted through the crowd, black platform flip-flops slapping loudly against the brick pavers, and threw open the door to the cultural center, weaving her way in and around several hallways until at last she collided with the electronically locked security room door. A buzz sounded and she pushed the doors open, falling into the room and sliding to a breathless halt.

Rin looked at her watch. "Thirty-four…"

Teri exhaled an enormous amount of air and slouched her shoulders in defeat, looking at her boss through her left eye, the only one not shaded by her short and unruly black hair. The room was silent.

"But I'll give it to you since the doors were locked." Said Rin, folding her arms across her chest and smiling gently at Teri.

"You…" Teri panted, noting Lana's obvious disapproval of their boss's decision, "are a saint, boss."

"Pfft! And don't call me boss." Said Rin, "Now go and check your cameras so that Ramon can take over."

The punk teen obliged. "Camera three is working properly, Rin." She said, vacating her post at the controls and giving it over to the security attendant, Ramon.

Rin watched the orchestra members begin to tune up. She found that there was something comforting in the sound of mismatching notes during warm-ups; perhaps it was the awaited moment in which all the notes would fall into place as one glorious C. She smiled as the conductor walked on from stage left to the cheers of the audience in the pavilion. He waved, nodded, and smiled, climbing up to his podium to take a bow in his crisp black tuxedo, blending with his musicians on the black and white screen of the monitor. He tapped the side of his music stand twice and brought his arms up loftily above his head. The orchestra responded with that solitary and unified C again and he quieted them with a slow flick of his wrist, bringing his arms down to his sides. He paused, turning his head ever so slowly towards each member of the orchestra before facing center once again. Then, he raised his arms in one fluid motion, and brought them down again, accompanied immediately by the smash of the timpani and a pair of cymbals and a striking blow from the brass. The concert had begun.

Rin sighed in relief as the music began to flow through its urgent crescendos and decrescendos and as the conductor writhed with it, directing its flow like the land directs a river down from the mountains. The musicians were all identical black and grey dots, but for one violinist. Rin spotted him and smiled: Nishi Sesshoumaru's long grey hair gave away his position as first chair of his section. Rin, still fascinated, pulled herself away from the performance reluctantly.

"C'mon," she motioned for the two teens to follow her, "It's back to the staff room with you two; you've got a lot of pamphlets to fold."

* * *

Rin took in another deep breath and shoved her weight against the piano; one more push and she'd have it in place. She inhaled again and grunted as she leaned her shoulder against the black Kawai grand, forcing it into a small space between several amplifiers and a cart of music stands.

"Phew," she said, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. She reached over to the stack of amps and pulled a dusty green sheet from the top of the lot. She hummed quietly to herself as she circled the piano, outfitting it in its large, custom-made cover. She swiveled around and smoothed the wrinkles across the top, bringing the elastic front down towards the keyboard. Rin stopped.

She looked sadly at the wooden cover hiding the keys and lamented the idea of pulling the sheet down to cover it. Rin glanced around quickly and trained her ears to the rest of the backstage area. She couldn't hear anyone, so she figured, _'why not'. _She rolled the dusty sheet back behind the piano's music stand and gently slid the cover off of the keys, pushing it back up into the piano. She smiled fondly at the ivory keys, running her fingers along them softly, and sat down to play.

She took in a quiet breath. The melody began to flow with a melancholy yet comforting tone, simple and amiable for such long and delicate sounds. Rin shut her eyes and let her hands whisk along the keys, painting a picture of a ship on stormy seas, riding large, black waves in the key of d minor. She struck a b natural when reaching for b flat and winced, stopping immediately. She sighed, opening her eyes: the song didn't please her as much as it once had. She lifted her hands and began where she had left off.

The musty outdoor smell of the pavilion soothed her a little; let her feel the song had a purpose again. She thought of the ocean spray and again she closed her eyes. She threw her hands into the dramatic B section and plunked out the heavy chord progression for a melody that she could never quite get right. She let her left hand rumble all the way down to C1 and held the chords there, suspended in a nice resolve. Rin swayed, gyrating with invisible waves, eyes closed, as she finished the piece in a higher octave, bringing it to a simple, music-box style end. She removed her hands from the keys gently, bringing them slowly up to hang suspended and level with her chest, and she nodded approvingly at the ringing tone still pervading the dusty air until something caught her eye.

Irrational, though it may have been, Rin screamed, sliding to the farthest end of the piano bench. There, standing mere feet away in the stage left entrance was Sesshoumaru Nishi, in full tux and all, watching her. He flinched with her sudden outburst, and leaned back a ways. They watched each other in silence, Sesshoumaru with gently quirked silver eyebrows and Rin with her hands clasped firmly over her mouth.

Sesshoumaru spoke first.

"Is that all?"

Rin swallowed hard and cleared her throat with an awkward chuckle. "I'm sorry, I uh, didn't see you there- well yeah, that's all I have, really…"

"You wrote it?"

"Uh, yeah; yes I did." Rin said, a little flushed.

There was a pause.

"Does it have name?" Queried Sesshoumaru.

"Ano, I call it 'Mariner's Song'," Said Rin, suddenly quite embarrassed at the tune's title, "but uh, that sounds a little cheesy…"

Sesshoumaru said nothing. He cocked his head to the side and contemplated the piano and the woman before him. He then set his case on the floor and flipped open the latches one by one. Rin watched, utterly confused, as he removed the velvet cover from his violin and gently lifted the instrument from its case. Sesshoumaru undid the velvet straps keeping the bow in place, and lifted it up, nudging the case closed with his foot (as Rin wondered how many hundreds of dollars he had just put his shoeprint on) and looked calmly back at her.

"The chord progress." He said simply. Rin glanced around. Sesshoumaru slowly raised an eyebrow at her response, or lack thereof. Rin blinked.

"Oh! You mean for the song?" she asked, assuming he meant chord progress_ion_. He nodded.

"Oh! Well, it's in d minor and in ¾ time, if you needed to know that…" She trailed off, disconcerted under his cool gaze. "And the chords go from d minor, to B flat major, to C major, then G major and F major and then-."

Sesshoumaru cut her off. "Play it."

Rin turned back to the piano, wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt, took a deep breath and began the song again. She cycled through the melody and reached part b, stopping.

"Keep playing," said Sesshoumaru.

So she obliged, beginning the melody all over again. She jumped in her seat, swiveling to look at Sesshoumaru as he lifted the violin to his chin and began to play alongside her. He was following the melody in a string of melancholy tremolos and scales, as well as simple drawn out notes in keeping with the chord progression. As Rin began part B, Sesshoumaru swept into a melody that Rin tried to mentally record. It was exactly the melody she had been searching for and had been unable to spit out.

Rin watched him tentatively as he swayed gently to the music, eyes closed and brows furrowed pensively. Rin found herself grinning; this man had been the missing part of her song, this duet between violin and piano the solution to her problems. And of all people, she was having a jam session with _Sesshoumaru Nishi_…

She swept the melody up to the next octave and he followed in perfect sync, new waves of sound emulating from the wobbling strings of the beautiful violin. Rin could hear the melody softly singing from Sesshoumaru's violin, so she dropped into the root chords of the theme to accompany him. She relished the sound of her music on his instrument, catching his eye as he played through the measure. Sesshoumaru nodded to her and began to fall back into simple strands of notes, and Rin took up the melody when the measure ended, bringing it back home. She began to slow the tempo, and Sesshoumaru followed adeptly, joining her and bringing the piece to a slow and elegant ending pianissimo.

Silence followed. Rin looked warily over at Sesshoumaru, who was already looking at her with piercing golden eyes.

Rin couldn't help it. She broke into a wide grin and slowly began to laugh, face flushed with effort and pride at her performance. Sesshoumaru did not say a word.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, "This is something I never imagined would happen. I mean, when I woke up this morning, I didn't exactly expect to be playing one of my old pieces with Nishi Sesshoumaru of all people." She said with a smile and an exasperated gesture.

A smirk twitched itself onto Sesshoumaru's face. "You know my name?" He said, slightly taken aback, though obviously proud. Rin grinned, blushing.

"Of course I do! You played your first symphony when you were four!" She said, a little flabbergasted, Sesshoumaru's eyebrow raised yet again, "My aunt is practically your biggest fan. She has every one of your solo albums, all of your original works, and practically every recording you've ever made with an ensemble or orchestra. She thinks you're Japan's best import." Sesshoumaru had both his eyebrows raised now. Rin just chuckled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, embarrassed. A moment passed.

"Um, your violin is very beautiful," Rin said. Sesshoumaru nodded. "You have played long?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Rin blinked and smiled unwittingly. The man was very stern but she had to stifle the urge to giggle at his English in comparison to his expressions. "Yes, um, about sixteen years now." She answered with a few nods. When he did not respond, she continued. "I majored in music through Columbia, but I minored in business. Funny enough, business is the only thing that's really gotten me anywhere."

"What do you perform?" he asked.

"Like, what style?" Rin attempted to clarify. Sesshoumaru nodded.

"Oh! Well, everything: my teacher has me playing as many genres as I can get my hands on, but I love to play classical pieces the best. Y'know, Debussy, Chopin, Rachmaninoff…?" Rin replied.

"Have favorite piece?" Sesshoumaru queried, English faltering again.

"Uh…probably Dmitri Shostakovich's second piano concerto, opus 102, the first movement, specifically." She smiled, "I had to work on it for a year before I could play it the whole way through without one wrong note. But I can play it smoothly now." She nodded punctually and with a hint of pride.

Sesshoumaru opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the fizzle of the intercom. A woman's voice, tired and in desperate need of caffeine, echoed over the loudspeaker:

"Sesshoumaru Nishi, your party is ready to leave at the West Gate; Sesshoumaru Nishi, your party is ready to leave at the West Gate."

Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth and glared at the nearest speaker. "My ride," he told Rin venomously, jabbing his thumb at the speaker. Rin smiled at his embarrassment and tried to hide it behind her hand. Sesshoumaru packed up his violin and shut the case angrily, picking it up and striding off towards the exit. He paused at the door and turned on his heel. "What is your name?"

"Rin. Matsushida Rin." She answered with her family name first as a comfort and bowed her head politely.

"Hrn." Sesshoumaru grunted, face blank, turning and pushing the door open.

"Nice piece," escaped his lips before he even knew he'd thought it, floating into the backstage area as the door closed behind him. Rin smiled. "Thanks," she said to no one. She sat silently at the piano for a while, watching the space where he had stood. Then she rose and folded the cover down over the keys, pulling the sheet over the front and scooting the bench under the piano with her knee. She sighed, laughed disbelievingly, and pulled her cell phone from out of her jacket. She turned it on and speed-dialed quickly.

"Oba-Chan? Hai: it's Rin. You'll never guess who just played a song with me…"

* * *

"Who's on tonight?" Muttered Teri, reclining in a large office chair in the security room with a pamphlet draped across her face.

"Didn't you check before you came?" snapped Marcy the undergrad, burying her nose in a music history textbook. She scrunched her puffy bob of curly hair and glared at Teri over her oversized glasses and down her pointy pale nose; "You've got the program on your face."

"What if I don't care enough?" Teri said, crumpling the program into a ball and rocketing it into a trashcan across the room. "Oh! Three pointer!" she said, turning to Marcy and blowing a smug pink bubble with her gum. "So who's playing, Marce?"

"I told you not to call me that-!"

"And I'm still ignoring you!"

Marcy glared at Teri and turned back to her textbook. "The Chicago Symphony Orchestra."

"What? Them _again_, weren't they here like, yesterday?" Groaned Teri. "I _hate_ classical music…"

"It hates you," Responded Marcy glibly, "And they were here last Thursday."

"Close enough to yesterday…" Sighed Teri.

"The Backstreet Boys wanted to have a concert here a few years back but Ravinia turned 'em down," said Lana, thumbing through the latest issue of 'Seventeen' magazine; "Why couldn't we like, have them perform, huh?"

"Because," said Rin, pushing open the doors and stepping into the room, "The Backstreet Boys are trashy, much as we love them, and this is a place for serious music."

"And the dude with the harmonica and the jaw harp last night was supposed to be serious?" Asked Teri with a few loud snaps from her gum. Rin smiled. "Well that was a bit rough, but tonight will be better." She said.

"Ugh, tonight's gonna be woooorse…" whined Teri, sinking further down in her seat. Lana nodded and heaved a rather dramatic sigh. Marcy lifted her head and turned to glare at them both.

"Oh come on now," said Laurel, The head of security and grounds keeping, "you've all seen 'Fantasia', right?"

At the sight of the big boss, the girls straightened and stood up. "Which one?" asked Teri and Lana at once. "Both of them," Replied Laurel, "The first half of the concert will be selections from the old 'Fantasia' and the second half will be selections from 'Fantasia 2000'."

The girls said nothing. "Well, what are you doing around here, I don't see you _working_…" said Laurel. The girls set down their various forms of entertainment and scampered around.

"Someone needs to sweep the floor in the hall, I need 'quiet' signs hefted out to the ushers, and I need someone to run out to Caroline at the Picnic Box and give her this note from the boss for me and _don't read it_!" said Rin. Marcy bolted into the closet and grabbed the broom and dustpan. Lana lifted as many signs as she could and stumbled towards the door. Teri took the note and opened the door for Lana and Marcy as they all filed out into the hall.

Laurel sighed. "Why in God's name did Dawn have to go and have a baby, and Neil get married and go on his honeymoon, and Anita fly to Greece to see her family, And Sharif have to move to Virginia and leave me with these little children and _you_?" She asked Rin. "Hey," Rin said, "you picked me, remember?"

"You, not them, dear…."

"Yeah, well they come with the package…"

"Ten minutes 'til curtain," said Ramon nearby.

* * *

At the same time, in the backstage area behind the pavilion, British conductor Andre Sinclair stepped onto a rehearsal block to make an announcement.

"Quiet, quiet!" He said over the din of one hundred people talking at once, "QUIET!!!"

The noise quieted quickly; making the man angry before a performance was not wise. Andre motioned with his hands that he wanted silence, and when he got it he spoke again.

"Everyone, there's been an accident. Clara Wagner was on her way here, biking, and she fell of and uh, rolled some feet down the road." Andre said. Mutters and whispers ascended from the crowd of musicians, including 'I told her not to take Sheridan through the ravines, but would she listen…?'

"Now, Clara's alright, she's just fine, but she broke her ankle-yeah, her right one- when she fell and she's at the hospital getting a cast put on. So," The crowd of musicians waited for the news they did not want to hear: "She can't go on tonight."

Groans and cuss words rose from the crowd, women folding their arms and shaking their heads, men massaging their temples gingerly. "So, needless to say, we need you, Jonathan, to play in her stead." Said Andre, pointing to a nervous looking thirty-year-old in the middle of the crowd. Jonathan pushed towards the conductor. "You look nervous Jon," said Andre, kneeling to face the man, "you play piano just as well as Clara…"

"Thanks sir, but that's not it: I can play through the first half of the concert, but…" said Jonathan, picking up where he left off after noting Andre's glare, "Sir, my sister's wedding is tonight, and I have warned you, sir, for the last four months that I'd be leaving early tonight, sir…." Andre looked at him pensively. "Sir," pleaded Jonathan, "I'm going to be late as it is, I might miss the ceremony if I stay one piece more!"

Andre inhaled stiffly through his nose and straightened with a crack from his knees. "Right, I forgot. Phin!" At the sound of his name a small young man with ashen blond hair crept dejectedly towards the conductor. "Phin," said Andre, "you're playing the second half." "Fine, good sir, but-." Said Phin. "But what?" asked Andre, a vein beginning to pulse openly in his forehead.

"I never learned Shostakovich's concerto… that was Jonathan's job." Said Phin.

Andre turned his attention to the ensemble. "Is there anyone who can play Shostakovich's piano concerto on the piano itself?!"

No one answered.

"_Shit_!!" Hissed Andre. He ran a hand through his balding gray hair. "Alright," he said after a deep breath, "we'll end with 'Rhapsody in Blue' instead."

"But sir," said a man in the front, "The concerto's MacArthur's favorite!"

"Yeah!" said someone else, "And it's his eightieth birthday celebration tonight!"

At the mention of the fickle orchestra sponsor seated in the pavilion, Andre comforted himself with idea that the man was still well enough within his old senses to not cancel funding for the orchestra because of one missed song… but he knew he was deluding himself.

"Does anybody have a BETTER plan?" he asked loudly with an eerie, false laugh. The orchestra was silent. "No? Of course not! Now, get your things backstage and set up quickly!"

The crowd began to move, muttering about the loss of their solo pianist and the impending loss of their largest sponsor. Sesshoumaru told the fifth chair for violin, who practically worshipped him, to take his things onstage and set up for him. The redheaded woman obliged, giggling as she trotted away from him. Sesshoumaru made his way towards Andre, who saw him and cringed away, groaning and holding his head.

"Oh, not now Nishi, I have more important things to worry about than whether your seat is to your liking or some odd shit…"

"What if this Sesshoumaru can help?"

Andre sighed in frustration; "You can't play the piano so you're useless to me right now, go find someone else to bloody piss off while you set up…"

"This Sesshoumaru knows someone who can play piece."

Andre threw down the clipboard he was making checks on and turned to face Sesshoumaru. "Look, how long have you been in America? What, like five, six years? Whenya gonna stop talking in third person? You sound like a bloody idiot standing there…." Andre paused. Sesshoumaru was staring at him intently.

"What did you just say?"

"_I_ know someone who can play piece." Said Sesshoumaru smugly.

Andre looked at him disbelievingly and paused for a moment before biting out testily: "If this is someone you know in _Japan_, I'll bloody your nose…"

Sesshoumaru shook his head and looked at the conductor blankly. "She works here. She says she can play piece."

Andre stood silent for a moment. "You've never even heard her play it?"

"No-."

"Jesus Christ, Nishi-!"

"-But I have faith in her."

Sesshoumaru was shocked by his own statement, as was Andre.

"Since when do you even have faith in humanity?" Queried Andre cautiously. He shook his head. "I have no idea why I'm doing this- you: find her. Give her the spare music from my bag, you get her to practice and you check on her during intermission, got it?" Sesshoumaru nodded and moved off to find the music.

"Nishi!" called Andre, "I'll make a speech before the concerto, tell everyone about Clara! You go get her then!"

Sesshoumaru nodded, snatching the music from the bag and making his way to the gate. The lawn was quite filled up and every seat in the pavilion was taken. He winded his way up the path and towards a group of servicemen. They eyed him suspiciously, and Sesshoumaru remembered he was wearing a tuxedo.

"Do you know Rin?" He asked.

The men looked from one another back to Sesshoumaru and shook their heads. Sesshoumaru moved on. He crossed onto the lawn and approached one of the ushers. The boy had his back turned to him, so Sesshoumaru tapped him on the shoulder.

"Do you kno-."

"SHHHHHHH!!!!"

Sesshoumaru felt the spittle hit his face and he grimaced, wiping his cheek with his hand as the boy leaned up on tip-toe, white gloved finger pressed to his pursed lips, and shoved a large white sign in Sesshoumaru's face. Sesshoumaru had to lean back to read it: 'Quiet! No talking: Performance is about to begin!' He raised an eyebrow and turned away quickly, heading back the way he came. There were two teenage girls leaning against a tree.

"Do you know Rin?"

They blinked at him cautiously.

"Do you know Rin?" he repeated. "Erin?" said one of the girls. "No, Rin."

"Is that a name?"

"Yes: a woman, Rin. I need find her; you do not know her?"

"No… what's her last name?"

Sesshoumaru couldn't remember. "I do not know." He said.

"Rin Matsushida?"

Sesshoumaru turned to see Teri, blowing a large pink bubble before popping it with her finger.

"Yes," said Sesshoumaru, "That is her name."

Teri said nothing.

"I need find her," said Sesshoumaru.

"…"

"I need speak with her!"

"Like…now?" said Teri, bored.

"Yes, now. It is urgent." Said Sesshoumaru. Teri blew another bubble. "Alright. Follow me." Sesshoumaru did so, leaving the two girls behind and very confused.

He followed Teri closely up the path and towards the cultural center. He stepped on the back of her flip-flop he was following so closely.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dude: Back up off my junk!" said Teri, turning to glare at him through her one visible eye. Sesshoumaru looked at her quizzically. "Back up," Teri said, "You are waaaay up in my bubble, man. This is my space so just step back and chill a lil' bit, 'kay?"

Sesshoumaru took a step back. She continued to glare at him. He took another step. "Good," said Teri. Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth. "I cannot 'chill', it is urgent." He hissed. Teri rolled her eyes and turned back towards the building. Sesshoumaru followed grudgingly, shadowing her testily as they traipsed through hall after hall and around corner after corner. When at last they reached a large pair of glass doors, they stopped. "Wait here," said Teri, sliding the card around her neck through a slot in the handle. The door buzzed and she walked through leaving Sesshoumaru irked and alone.

"Hey Rin?" She called as she walked in.

"Hn?" Rin answered, seated in front of one of the monitors, changing the video parameters to fit the whole stage on screen.

"There's some guy out here wants to see you," said Teri motioning to the door with her thumb. "Who is he?" asked Rin. "Dunno, he's pretty good looking, but he's kind of a brat," Teri responded. "Rin," said Laurel with a smirk, "I told you not to bring guys to work with you…" "What, like he's mine? Are you kidding? Tell him I'm busy, Teri." Said Rin. Teri nodded and disappeared around the corner.

The door buzzed open and Sesshoumaru glared at Teri angrily. "She's busy. Come back later." Teri said pulling the door closed, but it was stuck. Sesshoumaru pulled the handle back towards him and swept into the room, almost knocking Teri down. "HEY!!" said Teri quickly. Sesshoumaru stepped into the security room, finding Rin in a heartbeat.

"Teri, I said no guests: we're… busy." Said Laurel, recognizing Sesshoumaru and looking him up and down quizzically. "He put his foot in the door!" Teri spat, crossing her arms. Sesshoumaru ignored them. Rin turned to see what all the commotion was about.

"Sesshoumaru-Sama!-ow…" She said, surprised and face quite flushed, standing quickly and striking her knee on the desk. "Rin-san, I need speak with you." "Oh," said Rin, moving to face him in the center of the room, "okay…"

"Boss," said Lana, batting her eyes at Sesshoumaru and flipping her hair over her shoulder as she came to stand behind Rin, "introduce me to your friend…" "No," said Rin.

"Oh my God: you're Sesshoumaru Nishi!!" Said Marcy gleefully from the corner. She set down her book and looked at him with doe eyes, "Can I have your autograph please, sir?"

"Se-hoobajawhaty?" said Teri. "Sesshoumaru Nishi!" repeated Marcy. "Gesundheit," offered Lana, still staring at Sesshoumaru. "What?" asked Marcy. "Well you said somethin' really weird I thought you'd sneezed maybe…." Said Lana, beaming at Sesshoumaru. "Oh my God…" muttered Laurel, putting her head in her hands. Marcy looked at Lana with disgust. "That's his name, stupid!" "What is?" Questioned Lana. "Sesshoumaru Nishi!" said Laurel and Marcy at once. "Oh!" said Lana, turning back to look at Sesshoumaru flirtatiously, "I _like_ it! What is it again?"

"Okay, everybody just SHUT UP." Said Laurel, standing and spreading her arms like a referee, "Let the man talk." Sesshoumaru faced Rin again.

"Clara Wagner was in accident, she is at the-." "WHAT? CLARA?!" screeched Marcy. The entire room was silent. Marcy edged closer, eyes watery, "Please Mr. Nishi, you have to tell me what happened; I'm her number one fan!!"

Sesshoumaru was silent for a moment. "She fell off her bike." "Is she okay?" whimpered Marcy. "Yes. She broke her right ankle, but is okay." "So she can't go on?" simpered Marcy. Sesshoumaru nodded. "Oh nooooo…." Marcy brought her hands to her mouth.

"Who the hell's Clara Wagner?" asked Teri. Several people opened their mouths to speak, but Marcy got there first. "She's only the greatest living pianist in the Western hemisphere!!" "Well, I wouldn't go _that_ far, dear…" Laurel said. Marcy glared at her.

"Wait she broke her ankle, right?" said Lana. Sesshoumaru nodded. "So why can't she go on; you don't need your foot to play the piano!" Silence followed this comment. "You need it to play the pedal, dear…" said Laurel. "Piano's have pedals?" asked Lana. Everyone groaned. "Pedals like bikes, or petals like flowers?" Lana asked. "Okay, just stop: you get stupider every time you open your mouth." Said Teri. "Look who's talking," Lana fired back, "stupider isn't even a _word…_" "Shut up!" shouted Laurel and Rin.

"Who's going on for Clara, then?" Asked Marcy nervously. "We have two pianists that will play in her stead, but they can't play Shostakovich's concerto." said Sesshoumaru. "He used a contraction! Finally!" said Teri gleefully. Laurel smacked the back of her head. "Who's going to play the concerto?" Wheedled Marcy.

Sesshoumaru turned to Rin. "Rin is."

Everyone was quiet.

Rin chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, it sounded like you said that I'm going on for Clara Wagner…" "You are." Replied Sesshoumaru. Rin looked at him incredulously, mouth wide open. "You're serious…?" "Quite. It is our sponsor's favorite piece and he is in the audience: we must play it."

"With all do respect Sesshoumaru-Sama, you've lost your mind! I can't go on for _Clara Wagner_-!"

"Yes you can: you know the concerto?"

"Well, yeah: by heart, but-!"

"Here is the music," Sesshoumaru shoved the booklet into Rin's arms. "You will practice. I will return at the break and you play for me. If you play well, which you will, I will retrieve you during Andre's speech before the concerto." Rin looked at him, completely speechless. He looked her up and down. "You will need something else to wear onstage." He said, turning to leave.

"Wait, Sesshoumaru-Sama this is crazy!" cried Rin, following him to the door, "I've never played with an orchestra!" "What is it you Americans say? 'First time for everything'?" "No, Sesshoumaru-Sama, please, I-!"

"You will play and you will play well." He said sternly. Rin shut her mouth. "Get ready," said Sesshoumaru, slipping out the door and back towards the stage.

No one said a thing.

"Alright troops, you heard the man, let's hop to it: Ramon!" Laurel said, turning to the poor man who'd been a silent witness to the whole fiasco, "man the booth. Lana!" "Yes boss?" replied Lana, saluting. Laurel took a key ring from the clump of keys around her neck and handed them to Lana: "The one with the blue tag unlocks the costume shop. We need dresses- black dresses-we need hair pins, we need make up, we need a hairbrush, we need jewelry, we need shoes-!" she looked at Rin's heels. "Okay maybe not shoes, but everything else, now go!" Lana nodded and scampered towards the door. "You two: I want this place and the staff room spick and span, I need you out to greet people for the meeting at 7:30 and then I want you back in here, got it?" Teri and Marcy nodded, beginning their clean up process. "You," said Laurel, grabbing Rin by shaky shoulders, "Are coming with me to the practice rooms. You need us we're in practice room 2B, got it?" The girl's nodded. "You hear that Lana?!" Laurel yelled down the hall as they left the room. "Yeah!" came the reply. "All right Rin," said Laurel, rubbing her shoulders, "Let's get you ready to perform."

* * *

Rin's fingers ached. She was shaking with nerves and, after playing through the entire piece five times, she was nitpicking the details to death. Laurel was knocking eagerly on the door, though she let herself in. Rin ran a hand through her hair shakily and let out a long, ragged breath. Laurel dumped a bundle of cloth in her lap and watched as Rin shook herself out of whatever reverie she was in….er, concerto, rather.

"C'mon kiddo," said Laurel, offering Rin her hand, "Time to get dressed: you're on in four songs."

In answer, Rin stood and made a small squeaking noise in utter panic. Laurel chuckled and led her off to the bathroom.

As Rin changed in the dressing stall, she ran over the chain events in her mind again and again, wondering how she'd gotten herself into such a mess. 'Course,' she thought to herself, 'wasn't really my choice to get into this mess, was it? This is really all _his_ fault…'

"Hey Rin!!" Lana was shouting. Rin chose to ignore her over-tanned employee and continued pacing the stall trying to think of a way to get out of this mess.

"Rin!!" Lana's shrieks were aided by the unwelcome pounding of Teri's hands on the stall door, "We're about to crawl in there and get you!"

"Oh, alright! I'll…come out…" Rin tightened her hold on her old clothes and unlatched the door. Her cohorts were all standing there, waiting, and all a little too quiet for her comfort.

"Well…?" She asked them, holding her arms out to give them a better look at the long silken black dress.

"You're actually really pretty, boss!" said Lana cheerily. Teri whacked her in the back of the head, starting a fight for Laurel to break up and Marcy to giggle over. Rin buried her face in her hands, took a deep breath, and walked out of the restroom slowly. Her entourage followed her quickly, Laurel providing a hand on her shoulder.

Rin let out a long, nervous breath, and put her hands back at her sides. She looked around, comforted by the familiar halls of her workplace, and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, she saw something she didn't particularly want to.

Nishi Sesshoumaru made her breath catch in her throat as a mere side effect of his inability to be anything but dashing. His long silver hair was tied back and swishing behind him like a great tail and his impassive golden eyes were staring straight through her brown pair and right into her soul. She felt like he was trying to wrench it out of her.

"Whaddyou want with that…?" she muttered. "Hm?" Asked Laurel. Rin shook her head. The beautiful symbol of her destruction was coming closer and closer and Rin felt numb. She was awash with so many emotions, with fear, with frustration, with attraction for this stoic man, and with the amazingly strong fight-or-flight reflex that was pounding the need to flee into her brain. Nishi Sesshoumaru was almost to her now, reaching for her as he and Laurel exchanged words. Rin obeyed her para-sympathetic nervous system and turned away from the group, bolting back into the bathroom.

"Rin!!"

"Booooss!"

"Aw, C'mon-!"

Rin ignored them and headed for the first stall, bolting herself in. Through all the yelling and the sound of four pairs of feet pounding against the tile floor as they scuttled into the bathroom, Rin heard one pair waltz in quite slowly and stop outside her door. As the girls continued their barrage of encouraging phrases in an attempt to coax her out, the owner of the shiny black men's dress shoes in front of her was perfectly silent as he stood on tip-toe, snaked a long arm down into the stall, and slid the latch back. Rin was still in a state of shock that he had actually unlocked the door when Sesshoumaru swung it open, leaning on it rather smugly as though it were a fencepost. By the time Rin realized her mouth was open, Sesshoumaru had reached out to her, though she was backed up against the toilet as far as she could go, and grabbed her hand, pulling gently. Rin allowed herself to be led out seeing that there was no alternative, but she was still indignant about it.

"Just _what_ do you think you're doing? What if I'd been taking a pee?!" She squawked as the whole group moved out into the hallway.

"You weren't," Sesshoumaru answered.

"-And you're not even allowed in the girl's bathroom, you-!"

"-And yet they always tell this Sesshoumaru my hair is- what's word? _Girly_…?" He interjected smoothly.

"Urgh!" Grunted Rin, shaking his hand off her wrist and standing stock still, indignant. The group procession stopped, Marcy biting her nails nervously, Lana and Teri popping gum bubbles inquisitively, and Laurel trying to smooth things over.

"C'mon, Rin, I've got the music right here…"

Rin shook her head and giggled nervously. "No, no: I can't do this."

"You have already agreed," Sesshoumaru reminded her coolly.

Her head shot up quickly. "No," she smirked, finally finding her way out, "no, I never agreed to anything! You just sorta put this on me and ran off, but I never agreed, I never said anything to the affirmative, nope!"

Rin was quite pleased with herself. "So you'll just have to go on without me."

"There _is_ no going on without you…" said Sesshoumaru testily. Rin felt a bit of guilt eat away at the wall of her stomach.

"Look," she said calmly, "I'm sorry about this, but I don't even know if I'd play the piece well at all once I got out there: wouldn't it be better to drop the concerto, explain Clara's been in an accident, and move on to the finale instead of making me go out there and screw everything up for everybody?"

Everyone was quiet. "She has a point," said Teri. Marcy and Laurel elbowed her in the ribs in perfect synch.

"If this Sesshoumaru was…was…wunging-?"

"Winging," Rin corrected.

"-Winging this on someone who he thinks can't play, it wouldn't make sense." He said, trying to translate into English what he wished to make known. He looked at Rin intently as he continued to speak, eyes glued to hers.

"I think you can play piece, and play well, or I would not have chosen you: understand what I say?"

Rin couldn't fight the feeling that his eyes were boring into her soul again. She felt like melting and she was hopelessly aware that her cheeks were flushing under his gaze. She was losing the battle.

"You don't know anyone out there in audience: what is there to be nervous about?" He said quietly, coming closer and closer to her. Rin felt feverish.

"Well, actually," she sputtered, dropping her eyes to the floor so as to keep her sanity intact, "my grandma and my aunt are out there watching, y'know: the aunt who's obsessed with you?" She made the mistake of looking back up at him when he didn't respond quickly, which was a grave mistake. For a moment, the look on his placid face seemed almost humored and laced with some form of kindness, however bare and fleeting of a second it was. She melted again. "Then you should not be worried if they watch merely for this Sesshoumaru." Rin didn't know what it was about his speaking voice, however plagued with grammar and pronunciation mistakes it was, that made her quiver from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

"Is this what butter feels like everyday…?" She whispered.

"Nani?" queried Sesshoumaru.

"N-nothing," Rin said, shaking her head vigorously. Sesshoumaru had to admit that she was even more attractive with the barest hint of makeup shadowing her face and an elegant black dress that nicely encased her curves. Not to mention how the combination accentuated the deep brown-black abyss of her large, beautiful eyes.

She broke him from his thoughts.

"I'm still not going out there."

She was trying his patience. He checked his watch: 14 minutes until Andre wanted to start. He had no time to lose.

He grabbed Rin's hand and started down the hall briskly.

"Hey! Hey!" Rin yelped as Sesshoumaru pretended not to hear her.

"HEY!!!"

This caught him off guard and he turned to face her. He could see utter fear in her eyes as she clawed his hand off of hers and backed towards her boss. He actually felt a little sorry for her.

"I won't do it, NO! I can't! I'm so nervous I could just… _pass out_!!" she said loudly. He moved to take her hand again.

"I said I'm not going! And I don't care how sickeningly handsome or talented you are, or how _incredibly_ attracted to you I am, you're not making me go!" she said staunchly, standing as tall as she could, which wasn't very tall, even in heels.

She thought she'd made her point rather clear, but behind her she could hear soft laughter. She turned around to find her cohorts turning pink, hands clapped over their mouths to keep their laughter from exploding out of their lips. "What?" She said, not in the mood for their giggle fits. They practically burst, letting their loud hysterics fill the hall as the whole pack collapsed laughing, Laurel trying to hold everyone up though she was laughing loudly, too.

"Honey, I don't think you have any idea what you just said…!" she sputtered through chuckles as the threesome behind her tried to quiet themselves and stand up straight at the same time.

It was only then Rin was painfully aware of male laughter, quite faint, and closer to silent chuckles, but there was no mistaking it. She turned around to face Sesshoumaru who was regarding her with a very peculiar look she couldn't place and chuckling softly through a smug little smirk.

"So you are attracted to this 'sickeningly handsome' Sesshoumaru, Rin-san?"

Rin could feel all the blood in her face rising into her cheeks as she let her mouth hang open slightly. Sesshoumaru was staring her down with those piercing eyes of his; head held aloft, and smug smirk befitting him with loads of pride. Behind Rin, her coworkers had resumed laughing. She turned away from Sesshoumaru.

"I just have no filter at all…" She brought a hand to her mouth and shut her eyes, aware that her cheeks were so hot someone could fry eggs on them. In an effort to reclaim her dignity, she stood straight and turned to face Sesshoumaru again.

"I'm still not going." She said stubbornly.

"Oh?" said Sesshoumaru nonchalantly. Rin narrowed her eyebrows: this man was already too proud for his own good and she'd gone and made it worse.

"Yes," she said, "and there's nothing you can say or do that's gonna get me out on that stage."

"Really?" he asked smugly.

"Really." Said Rin tersely: he was starting to get on her nerves.

"Is that so?"

"It's so." Wipe that smirk off your face…

Nothing will make you play? Absolutely nothing? He said smoothly, switching to Japanese.

Absolutely nothing. Rin replied in Japanese.

("What're they saying?" Marcy whispered to Laurel. "No idea: now, quiet!")

That's too bad. said Sesshoumaru.

Yup, tragic. said Rin, folding her arms across her chest. She'd won.

…. So why was he still looking at her like that? She felt like a piece of meat as he cocked his head to the side and eyed her predatorily, taking a step forward.

"What are you doing?" said Rin, stepping back.

"Taking matters…" he flexed his fingers, "into my own hands."

Worrying over what he could possibly mean by that, Rin took another few steps back and turned to run back to the staff room, but Sesshoumaru had her by the shoulders. He spun her to face him again.

"Hey!" said Rin as he yanked her against him, "You can't just-!"

But Sesshoumaru cut her off, pushing his lips against hers.

"MMMRRM!!" Rin grunted angrily against him, glaring at his closed eyelids and trying to push him off of her. But the more she pushed, the tighter he held her, bringing a hand up to cradle the back of her head.

"Mmmmph!" She sputtered as Sesshoumaru's lips fluttered over hers and she felt his tongue holding back inside his mouth. He removed his mouth for a split second, only to bring it down on hers again. Rin continued to push on his shoulders until his tongue lazily flicked the tip of hers.

"Mm!! M…mmm….mmmmmm…" She loved the sensation, every second of it. Instantly she could see in her mind's eye a pat of butter melting on warm bread, and she followed suit, leaning into Sesshoumaru and bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck as she let her eyes flutter closed.

And they both seemingly forgot the all-female, four-person audience watching them in silence with mouths wide open.

Sesshoumaru drew back, pulling away from Rin gently. Rin opened her eyes and took a deep breath. He was staring into her soul again, and she sighed softly.

"Will you go on, Rin?" He asked her smugly.

Dazed and staring at him adoringly, Rin replied: "Whatever you say…"

Sesshoumaru smirked again, ever so slightly, and grabbed her hand. Turning, he marched down the hall quickly with Rin in tow, checking his watch: 10 minutes. Rin's employer and employees followed quickly, Teri spouting "WHAT THE CRAP?" every ten seconds or so.

As they reached the doors, Laurel shoved the sheet music at Rin, who took it gingerly, more than a little dazed. Sesshoumaru led her out the door and onto the sidewalk as Teri, Laurel, Lana, and Marcy voiced words of good luck and encouragement. And suddenly, Rin came back to Earth.

"Wh…What the hell did you just make me agree to?!" She asked Sesshoumaru as they sped towards the pavilion.

"This Sesshoumaru made you do nothing, he merely proved that there was _something _could make you do as I wish…" He reeked of pride.

"Oh, come _on_!!" said Rin as Sesshoumaru pulled her through the stage left door, "I didn't exactly know what I was saying, I mean you- you- you-!"

Sesshoumaru turned to her with a finger to his lips. Rin thought they were beautiful lips, flushed a little pinker than normal from kissing her, and oh how she would love to kiss them again…

Sesshoumaru looked at the woman in front of him. Her captivating eyes held a new light in them, shining as she looked at him. He'd gone and gotten some woman inconsolably infatuated with him, and the worst part of it? He enjoyed the way she was looking at him, and the way he made her feel, let alone the way she made _him_ feel…

He looked away and sighed.

"Look," said Rin, "It's not-!" she stopped. Sesshoumaru had that long, slender finger at his lips again.

"It's not," she whispered, "Like I was really in any position to give a sensible answer, you snogged me senseless! And then you manipulated that reaction to get your way, so really I-!"

He had that finger pressed to her lips now, and his nose was inches from hers. Rin attempted to ignore her dramatic increase in heart rate and the heavy flush in her cheeks.

You, Sesshoumaru told her in the language he knew best, will do well. You will not make mistakes, you will play gracefully and you will play to the best of your ability.

Rin chewed her lip. But what if I do mess up? Or what if I slip up so bad we have to stop the entire song because I messed up everything for everybody, and then I'll start crying and-!

Sesshoumaru took her face in his hands, saying nothing. It was enough for Rin that he was encouraging her with his eyes. She nodded meekly. Sesshoumaru shook her shoulders gently.

I'm going on. He turned, straightened his coat, and walked towards the door. Rin sat, dejected, on a black foldout chair.

Andre will say your name, then you walk out to the piano, bow, and sit: got it? He queried. Rin looked, and felt, quite green. Sesshoumaru took her hand and, awkwardly, because he was completely unsure of what to do in this type of situation, gave her a pat on the head.

Gambatte. He said. Then he strode off around the back of the theatre, entering quietly from a door in the very back of the left side.

Rin clenched her hands together in her lap, leaving sweat stains on her sheet music. Sesshoumaru must've signaled to Andre, because the man was now explaining that she would be filling in for Clara, as he read her name off of a post-it on his podium.

Rin stood and walked ever so slowly towards the open doorway.

"Ladies and gentleman, she has been very gracious to help us in our hour of need; Ravinia's own Rin Matsushida!"

As the crowd, who was much larger when seen from onstage, applauded her entrance, Rin took a deep breath, steadied herself, and walked out onstage smiling.

In the audience, a middle-aged woman squinted through her glasses at the small, pretty Asian girl emerging from stage left to shake the conductor's hand. "What in all _hell_…" Amaiko Matsushida gaped openly as her niece awkwardly shook Andre Sinclair's hand, bowed to the audience, and scuttled off to the piano to take her seat and perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

"_My_ Rin? What…?" Why would they choose _Rin_ of all people?

Next to Amaiko, her mother was looking at Rin quizzically through a pair of opera glasses. "Ne, Amai-chan: since when does Rin-chan play piano?" she asked innocently.

As Rin sat and gave the audience one last shy, flushed wave, Teri let out a loud 'whoop' from the back and whistled shrilly, Lana cheering and clapping like the cheer captain she was, before Laurel smacked them both in the back of the head. "_Shut Up_!!" She hissed in a whisper, "You don't do that it this kind of concert, idiots!"

Onstage Rin felt as if the bright lights surrounding her were the heat of the sun, crushing her into white-hot oblivion. As she swallowed nervously and looked out at her aunt in the third row, who shrugged her shoulders at her niece and gawked cluelessly, Rin decided oblivion would be utterly welcome. She looked uncertainly at Maestro Sinclair, standing at his podium in front of her, and she tried desperately to wipe her dripping palms on the skirt of her dress. Andre nodded to her steadily, as though to give her a good gripping shake of the shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Sesshoumaru staring at her. He dipped his head in acknowledgement silently and winked (feeling quite ridiculous after doing so). Rin smiled, turned to face the keyboard, shook her hair back, and took a long, deep breath, eyes closed. When she reopened them she straightened her shoulders and looked up at Sinclair. He nodded at her and turned to face the orchestra. Raising his right arm, he caught the first bassoon's eye and brought the arm down again, signaling him to begin, followed shortly thereafter by the second bassoon, then Rin.

She inhaled as deeply as she could, hands shaking visibly, and began to play on his mark. She watched him over her music as he signaled for her to slow down just a bit: great, she was already going to fast. She shook her head and breathed deeply again, trying to calm her heartbeat in an attempt to calm her hands. Sesshoumaru watched intensely from his seat across the stage.

Rin felt much calmer as her right hand played alongside the two bassoons; so far, so good. Standing at the railing in the very back of the outdoor pavilion with the others, Teri remarked "Just one hand? That's not so bad..." "Ssssh!" hissed Laurel and Marcy.

Suddenly Rin's left hand sprang perkily into action accompanied by a snare drum, then the bassoons, and suddenly the string section, following her as she swept the melody up higher, separated her hands, and brought the volume up to a more dramatic mezzo forte. Her aunt and grandmother were squeezing each other's hands tightly, nervous for her. In the back, Teri said "Oh," and fell silent again.

Rin was enjoying herself now as the piece took a more complicated turn and the orchestra took over the melody for an instant. Then it swooped back down to her, Andre quieting everyone with expert care as Rin let her hands flow across the keys, occasionally glancing at Andre to make sure she was going the right speed. She swayed slightly as the soft moment progressed, listening to the sound of Sesshoumaru and the violin section playing as softly as possible alongside her. Then, elegantly and in perfect unison, they plucked the strings of their instruments and followed Rin down into a brief handful of measures meant to transition into the next portion of the piece.

Knowing full well that the most difficult section of the song was only a few bars away, Rin gathered her nerves, blew out some air, and willed herself to stop shaking. As she and the strings puttered along gently, she lashed out and struck out a new dangerous and threatening tune in the bass clef, the strings providing striking blows at perfectly timed intervals as the flutes emitted a harsh, haunting version of the melody over the deep sounds of the other instruments. Rin's hands took the melody again, in sink with the brass, and brought it into a higher octave before crashing left hand back down low again after a series of tedious scales followed by powerful chords. Rin could feel her fingers aching as she pounded the melody out briskly in the treble clef while her left hand thundered and boomed in the bass clef. Her foot was weak from pedaling in heels she wasn't accustomed to performing in and she swore her arms were going to tear off, but she was determined not to mess up.

In the back, Rin's entourage was silent, but for Marcy: "Wow…I didn't think she was _that _good…"

"This is the most difficult part of the piece for the pianist…" Laurel whispered, gripping the rail as though her life depended on it.

"Her hands…they're a freaking _blur_…!" said Teri quietly. Lana nodded and the conversation ended. In the third row, Amaiko and Sasuki Matsushida were cheering Rin on under their breath.

Rin went through another horrendous set of scales, even worse than the first, and continued up and down, up and down intensely for several bars consecutively. Then, the strings took the melody and her piano accompanied with a series of intricate and bold chords, changing key. Then it swept through another myriad of powerful phrases before again the woodwinds took the melody and Rin provided a slightly different, but no less haunting and compelling, accompaniment. Once again, she was rumbling through intense scales, steeling herself for the moment she brought her hands down to end them and would sweep into the electrically charged, sinister buildup to the piece's crescendo. When she reached it, the point she had always had the most trouble with in the entire piece, she pushed through it flawlessly and a smile immediately graced her face.

The sound of the grand, covered by two microphones to ensure it was heard alongside the orchestra, thundered dramatically, charging the air. Rin's friends and family held their breath as she struck the keys intensely, hands bouncing all across the keyboard.

'Here it comes, here it comes…' She chewed her lip nervously, anticipating the crescendo and praying to the merciful music gods to let her get everything just right. Her hands climbed quickly, attacking the keys as she and the string section dueled. Then came the chords and she burst through them, her hands an animate blur as she danced them across the keys with all her strength and as quick as humanly possible, making the sound as bold and loud as she could. She caught Andre's eye and he widened his arms just enough that she could tell exactly what tempo he wanted to take for this crucial moment. Rin's wrists felt ready to break and she eagerly struck the keys as deftly as she could and, like a waterfall after rapids, the piece flowed without constraint, the impending crescendo reached. The great swell of the music filled Rin's ears and she was practically deafened by it. In awe if the amazing feeling of playing alongside these great musicians and of being a part of such a magnificent sound, Rin couldn't help but smile as she threw herself into the keys, letting her hands rumble along the keyboard before bringing them up and cutting the sound off dramatically with the rest of the orchestra.

Andre turned to her, lifted his arms, and gently brought them down again as Rin picked up her solo adeptly, bringing the music out of the darkness and back into the light, skipping feeling of the beginning. Her part was far more complex than in the original part A, but it was the same familiar melody, telling her the worst was over. She grinned, letting her head shake a little as her hands danced along the keys pleasantly. The left hand took the melody from the right and Rin swayed along gracefully until she picked up volume and progressed along the keyboard as the woodwinds joined her, completing the picture. Her right hand glided effortlessly through tangles of runs as her left hand sounded out the melody loud and clear in the bass clef.

"Is she doing that- that fast part with _one hand_?!" Teri squawked incredulously from the back. Lana's gum bubble popped as a result of her gaping, awestruck mouth. Marcy nodded. "Yeah…she is…" "Oh my god," said Laurel, shaking her head: "She got through it!"

Rin was really enjoying herself now that she was out of the woods, elegantly bringing the melody back to her territory as the familiar snare drum and bassoon joined her. As she whisked into her favorite part, accompanying the bassoons, she couldn't help but grin when the string section took over for the bassoons, catching a glimpse of Sesshoumaru as he played. She felt a little giddy as she continued to play, wary of her speed and enthusiasm.

The song was coming to the end now and the orchestra had fallen back behind Rin, leaving the melody to her and, momentarily, the flutes. She wanted it to be a brilliant, vibrant ending, and plunged into it with all her heart. She whisked through it, on the edge of the piano bench, as she dove in and rolled out her last, beautiful string of powerful notes before the finale. Then the orchestra, proud and final, took up the melody, brought it up louder as each of the instrumental groups joined in sections, until at last Rin joined them and the sound of their final, triumphant chord soared over the heads of the audience members and exploded into the air as Andre cut his arms to the side in one stiff strike.

The audience was completely silent for a moment before applause broke loose. Andre turned to them and bowed as a few members stood for an ovation. Andre gestured, smiling, to the orchestra, who bowed their heads in response. Rin's heart was threatening to burst from her ribcage as she put her shaking hands in her lap, scooted her foot under the bench, and beamed proudly.

Andre turned to her and held out his arm. She looked at him blankly.

"Take a bow, stupid," he whispered gently.

Flustered and shocked, Rin stood on jelly legs and took a few steps away from the piano. Smiling and giggling uncontrollably, she bowed deeply. More people stood, and they were standing for _her_! She was baffled, barely controlling the urge to bring her hands to her face to hide her embarrassment. From the back she could hear Teri let out a loud 'whoop' and a cry of "YEAH RIIIIN!!" as Lana cheered and Marcy whistled freakishly loudly. She could see Laurel clapping and shaking her head.

In the third row, Amaiko had claimed bragging rights. "That's my niece!"

"Really? Oh how wonderful-!"

"Yeah!"

"Congratulations, you must be very proud…"

Onstage, several of the musicians were clapping as well. Rin felt like crying she was so happy. Andre had stepped down from the podium, reaching to shake her hand and she took it eagerly as he patted her on the back. "You did good, kid," he said. "Thank you so much for this, sir!" said Rin, ecstatic. Andre chuckled and moved back to the podium.

Rin turned to look at Sesshoumaru, who, much to her surprise, sat applauding with a small smile on his handsome face. Rin felt full of giddy butterflies seeing him smile, though the other violinists seemed frightened and revolted by the unexpected emotion, visibly cringing away from him.

Rin quickly scurried back to her piano bench as Andre thanked everyone for attending, wished MacArthur a happy birthday, and bid the audience goodbye. The lights dimmed except for the main electrics, and the orchestra members gathered their things and scuttled offstage. Rin followed suit.

As she set her music down on a nearby chair, she took in a shaky breath, laughing through it. Several musicians came and thanked her for her help, congratulating her on a job well done. Rin thanked them all for the opportunity to perform with such a wonderful group.

"Miss Matsushida?"

Rin turned towards Andre who had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his expensive black pants. Rin chewed her lip, nervous.

"Mr. Sinclair," she began shakily, "Let me just say sir that this has been an incredible experience and I want to thank you for giving me the privilege of performing with you all, sir, and that I apologize for taking the speed too fast at times and-!"

"Miss Matsushida?" He interrupted her.

"Er, yes…?" Rin said, anticipating the musical critique of the year.

"You did well, very well, actually: it was like a new animal with someone different at the piano. Like an adventure." Andre said with a smile.

"Good, thank you, sir," Said Rin, dipping her head out of habit.

"'Course," said Andre with a small smirk, "I can never look Nishi in the face again: God, he's going to rub this in for the rest of my life…." He massaged his brow, chuckling. When nothing more was said, Rin held out her sheet music to him. "Um, I believe this is yours," She said.

"Why, yes it is," Andre took the folder and stuck under his arm.

"Listen, Matsushida," he said, "what do you do, exactly?"

"Um," said Rin, "I'm assistant events coordinator here."

"And what do you do for the rest of the year?"

"Well, I teach piano-."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, K on through… and I also visit different pre-schools a few times a week with little percussion instruments for 'music time'…" Rin said, smiling at the thought of toddlers banging on drums.

"Hm," said Sinclair. "It's just that my kids have been taking piano from the same guy for about three years, but he moved away recently. My oldest, my son, has a new teacher, but my little girl is only four and not up for his caliber of teaching, right…"

Rin convinced herself that what was coming was not coming.

"So um, would you be interested in teaching her?"

Rin was silent.

"I pay well, promise, and we'll come to you…"

"Yeah," Rin said happily, "Sure, great! Yeah, definitely! Uh, I live in Evanston if that's not a problem…"

"Nah, we live in Wilmette, so it's fine…"

"Oh good!" Rin always loved getting new students, let alone when it was the conductor of the CSO's daughter. 'That's gonna be _great_ for business…' she thought, wanting to bounce up and down gleefully.

"Well, here's my card: I'll let you know what Susie thinks about it, okay?" said Andre.

"Oh, sure! Um, let me give you my number…" said Rin. Andre handed her another card to scribble her number on. She handed the card and pen back with a smile.

"Thanks so much, Mr. Sinclair!" she said, "I think I may owe you my soul after tonight…" she said timidly. Andre laughed. "I've got plenty, thanks," he said, gesturing to the wings full of musicians. "I've got to go, but thank you again, Miss Matsushida," He said, shaking Rin's hand. "No sir," said Rin, "Thank you!" With that, they parted ways, and Rin rushed out into the open air, the smell of a fresh summer night enveloping her.

She made her way up the walk, excitement still clinging to her, and found herself on the walkway behind the seats of the pavilion. Coming into view as she emerged from the tree-lined path were her family and friends, chatting eagerly with one another. Lana spotted her first.

"Booooosss!!" She squealed, jumping up and down.

"What the _crap_?! When did you get so _good_, Rin?!" said Teri, amazed, "That was actually decent classical music thanks to you!"

Laurel embraced Rin and rocked her back and forth. "I'm so proud of you, kiddo!" she said, pulling back. "Seems like just yesterday you were a brace-faced teen taking tickets at the gate."

"Lemme through!" cried Amaiko as Laurel made way for her. Rin felt completely at home as her aunt showered her with compliments and acknowledgements of pride: being an orphan, Amaiko was the closest thing to a mother Rin had. "Thanks, Oba-chan, I'm so glad you could come!" said Rin, turning to bow to her grandmother, Sasuki. "Very nice, dear, very good," she said. "Thank you, Obaa-chan, I really appreciate it."

"Rin," said Amaiko, "I don't think you realize the gravity of the situation: you performed on the same stage as _Nishi Sesshoumaru_, you've practically been touched by the gods!" her eyes were filled with admiration for Sesshoumaru.

"Oba-chan…" Rin shook her head, laughing.

"'Touched' is a good word for it…" said Laurel slyly. Rin swiveled to glare at her, blushing headily again.

"Oh? What is that supposed to mean?" asked Amaiko.

Rin was just about to politely slap a hand over Laurel's mouth, but Sasuki spoke first.

"My, what a handsome young man…"

"Eeeek!!" said Lana, coming to grip Rin's arm: "it's him, boss!"

Rin burst into a grin as Sesshoumaru became visible, strolling past the curtain of small evergreens, sheet music in hand. His bow tie hung limply around his neck and his long hair was no longer tied back, whipping about freely. He was staring into her soul with a placid face and the barest hint of a smirk on his lips. Rin filled with glee at the sight of him. Behind her, Laurel was whispering something to Amaiko.

"-He did WHAT?!!" wailed Amaiko, shocked. "To get her onstage," Laurel affirmed.

Rin didn't hear them and she couldn't care less what they were saying. She started walking towards Sesshoumaru quickly.

"Did you see me? Did you?"

"Hai," he replied, shaking his head in slight disbelief as he walked towards her, "you did very well."

"I did it!" She said, jogging now.

"Hai, you did." He felt like smiling, which scared him a bit as he held his arms out to her.

I did it! I can't believe it, I did it, ha!! The words flew out in Japanese habitually, and before she even knew what she was doing she'd run straight into Sesshoumaru's arms, laughing joyously. He took her up and spun her round effortlessly, Rin giggling all he while as though it were a carnival ride.

When Sesshoumaru stopped spinning, they were both instantly aware of their position. Rin slid from his arms awkwardly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and blushing profusely. Sesshoumaru was still wearing a ghost of a smirk on his lips.

"Um, s-sorry…" said Rin, suddenly fascinated with a wrinkle in her skirt.

"Not at all," said Sesshoumaru quietly. Rin looked up and met his eyes briefly before turning into a lump of quivering goo.

"That's Nishi Sesshoumaru…" said Amaiko quietly.

"Yes it is," Laurel replied.

"Just making sure…"

After a few moments of awkward silence, Sesshoumaru shoved a folder of sheet music into Rin's hands. She looked it over. "This is for the concerto," she said, opening the folder. "Yes," said Sesshoumaru, "Andre signed it for you as a gift, wanted you to have it."

Sure enough, in blue ink on the inside of the cover, Andre Sinclair's signature was neatly scrawled with a footnote of "thanks a bunch, kiddo!"

"Wow…" said Rin, pleased beyond words, "Will you please thank him for me?" she asked Sesshoumaru. He nodded, a dangerous look in his eye, no doubt pondering ways to rub the situation in Andre's face. Rin smiled at the thought.

"This Sesshoumaru must pack up," he said after a moment. "Oh! Right, yeah…" said Rin. "Well, thank you Sesshoumaru-san, for everything," she smiled as she bowed her head politely. Sesshoumaru returned her bow.

"Oh, wait!" said Rin, "Before you go, I'm sure my aunt would love to meet you, if you wouldn't mind-." She stopped, looking at Amaiko over her shoulder.

The older woman was waving her arms and making frantic 'X' signs in the air with them. Rin looked at her, cocking her head to one side in confusion. "What? Don't you want to-."

"No!" Amaiko whispered loudly, trying to shoo Rin away.

"Uh, sorry," Rin said, turning back to Sesshoumaru, "I guess…not." She looked back at her aunt, shrugged, and made a confused face. Amaiko responded with more shooing motions, accompanied by Laurel and the girls, as well as Sasuki.

"Until next time," said Sesshoumaru, wincing at the cheesy sound of the line.

"Yeah, I'll um, be seeing you then." Said Rin. Sesshoumaru nodded as she thanked him again, turned and walked back towards the pavilion. When he was a yard away, Rin turned and raced towards her aunt.

"What the hell was that about?! You've wanted to meet him since he was six years old!!" Rin asked Amaiko, thoroughly confounded.

"Go after him!!" all six women said in unison.

Rin was taken aback. "What?"

"I was trying to get you to go after him!!" said Amaiko breathlessly, "It's not everyday you make-out in a hallway with a gorgeous, world-renowned violinist you know!!"

Rin flushed helplessly. "Laurel!" she cried accusingly.

"Hey," shrugged Laurel, "it was quite necessary to blab."

"Go get him, Boss," said Marcy.

"Yeah!" chorused Lana and Teri. "I think he likes you," said Sasuki benevolently, "and I'd rather him for you than some American boy, even if he does look a bit like a girl…"

"Oh my God…" Rin put her head in her hands.

"What're you doing, stupid?!" quipped Teri, "go get him already!!"

Rin looked at the group of determined matchmakers, bit her lip, and ground out a grunt of frustration before bolting down the walkway after Sesshoumaru. She could hear everyone cheering behind her.

Chotto matte, Sesshoumaru-san! She said, racing around the evergreen wall. He had heard her and was standing a few feet away, staring her down inquisitively. Rin swallowed hard, thousands of butterflies swarming in circles inside her stomach.

Ano… I just don't think that thanking you is really, uh, enough, you know and, ano, I just wanted to, well… She was stumbling hopelessly and she looked up to meet his eyes, one of his silver eyebrows cocked slightly. Looking down, she took a deep breath and tried to fight the feeling that she was an insignificant bug under the gaze of this man who easily towered over her.

I mean, I was just thinking that, y'know, it isn't enough for me to thank you: I should really show my appreciation somehow so… she gulped, I thought maybe I could buy you a cup of coffee or something the next time you were here to…um… pay you back… properly.

Rin winced. If that sounded as dumb as it had in her head, then she was sure she looked like a complete idiot. Sesshoumaru regarded her silently as Rin looked anywhere but at him. He huffed softly.

Are you… asking this Sesshoumaru out? He asked, perplexed.

Rin looked up at him, completely embarrassed. He was clearly quite amused.

I- I-…. yeah, yeah I am, said Rin quietly, bringing a hand to her bright red forehead.

Silence passed.

Look, I mean, I understand if you don't want to, we did just meet, and-.

I like cheeseburgers.

Rin blinked up at him. … Cheeseburgers?

He nodded.

You want me to take you out for a cheeseburger…? Rin asked hesitantly.

Yes. This Sesshoumaru would like to have a cheeseburger with you. The words were out of his mouth before he even knew he'd thought them. He blinked. Rin was staring at him.

Do you dislike cheeseburgers? He queried.

No, no! Of course not, I love cheeseburgers1 They're so cheesy and…and…burgery, _stop _babbling, Rin… she chided herself.

Sesshoumaru let out the barest huff of a chuckle. Are you busy tonight?

Rin practically glowed with happiness. No! Well, I mean, I have to pack up and get everything organized back in the staff room, and I have to change…

I will meet you at the West gate at 9:45 and call for a cab to take us…wherever. He was babbling: he, Sesshoumaru Nishi, was _babbling_…

Or you could meet me at the North gate: that's where my car is, said Rin with a shrug.

Oh, said Sesshoumaru, That would work.

O-okay, said Rin, grinning broadly, 9:45, North gate…I know a great place. Sesshoumaru nodded. Rin waved awkwardly and backed away, tripping on a tree root elegantly.

Ne, Rin-san? He called after her. She turned to listen.

To be fair, you owe me more than one cheeseburger for all I've done for you, so this will have to be a fairly common occurrence, I'm afraid.

Rin blinked at him shyly. Sesshoumaru smirked fiendishly. Rin felt warmth envelop her completely as she giggled happily. Sesshoumaru nodded to her slowly, 9:45, he said, walking towards the stage and out of Rin's line of sight.

When he was gone, she bounced in place and screamed silently. Then, slyly, she collected herself, hung her head, and emerged from behind the wall of bushes looking dour. At the top of the path, the others were worried she'd been crushed. Rin could see that they had moved closer to the evergreens in an attempt to hear what the two had said.

"Oh, he didn't…" said Laurel quietly.

"Oh no," squeaked Lana, bringing her hands to her mouth.

"What a douche," said Teri, "I'll rip him apart."

"I'll help," said Marcy staunchly. The group watched Rin trundle slowly and sadly towards them. Amaiko shook her head and sighed.

"Guess he was a ho," said Sasuki. Everyone looked at her in shock.

"Mother!!" said Amaiko. "Well, he loved her and left her, that's the makings of a ho," Sasuki replied sweetly.

Rin looked up to see everyone staring at her. She looked at them dourly, and chewed her lip, pausing. Unable to contain her joy any longer, she grinned giddily and began to dance in place, throwing up victory signs and pretending to play the air guitar.

"Why you little _shit_… !!" said Laurel in disbelief.

"Oh that's low, Rin, tricking us like that: who raised you?" Amaiko kidded. Sasuki applauded next to her and Marcy shook her head amiably.

"I hate you!!" said Lana and Teri at once as Rin came to join them, whirling about happily.

"I know," she said smugly, putting an arm around each one of them. They shrugged her off haughtily.

"What happened?" asked Laurel eagerly. "I am buying him a cheeseburger tonight at 9:45 and, he made sure to add, many more times to come because I owe him more than one cheeseburger for his kindness," She fought the urge to clap her hands like a small child with a sugar high.

"I hate you, too," said Amaiko as the group walked back towards the cultural center, "Young people have all the fun."

Rin smiled. "So far, I'm having a really good night."

* * *

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Please review!


	4. 20: The Road Home

Chapter 3- #20- The Road Home

**Edit: **I forgot to give you the soundtrack! Bad, Sephora, bad. There were only two songs I used, really, "Avalon" and "Ragtime", both by the fantastic Randy Newman.

So… "it's been a while" probably isn't fair to say here. And I'm sorry, I really am, and I really am gonna do better, I promise. I wrote this whole thing in just under five hours, so I'm getting a lot better. I just gotta churn out the next one and try to keep a steady pace.

Now that I'm in college, my schedule accommodates times for writing much better than it used to. Thus, I'm actually updating!

Thanks so very much to everyone who reviewed, favorite-ed, or alerted this fic: it means a lot to me. That said, this is the best out of the three, methinks. :)

I wanna dedicate this to the wonderful Rickashay. Last night I read some more of their wonderful SesshRin one-shots and got really inspired to kick my own butt into gear. Rickashay spits fics out like they're easy as pie, so they have my respect.

If you see a typo, put it in a review- I didn't have my beta read this one because I wanted to post right away. ;P

This ficlet is rated: T+ for gore and some seriously suggestive crap.

"…"- speech

"…"- SL (sign language)

…And that's all I'm gonna give you information wise.

* * *

**The Road Home**

He was not entirely sure how it had happened.

He was not a man with unknowns in his life. Similarly, he hated not knowing anything. And so he came to realize that it was not the loss of his hearing- though it had stung his taiyoukai pride to know he was suddenly handicapped- but the fact that hes unsure of how exactly he lost it that irritated him most. Irritated, because he was, of course, above plastering anger, or sadness, or some other trivial emotion on anything, let alone a small injury.

But yes, it, it…_irritated_ him not knowing, not fully understanding. One moment he had been standing watch outside the bunker, as he always did, his uniform cleanly starched and pressed just the way he liked it, and the next moment the night sky was on fire, the shrill scream of a barrage of weaponry popping in his ears. And as the sky exploded and the ground was wrenched from beneath his feet, that mechanized screech was the last sound he heard.

Then darkness. Then the impossible bright white light of a sterile hospital room.

They said his battalion had left, they were unsure as to where they had gone. They were to take care of him until they received word from his commanding officer. As though he needed to be taken care of…

They wanted him to learn sign language. But what did he want with communication? He would learn sign language when it became of use to him as a soldier. It was of no other use to him.

But then there was her.

She wanted him to learn sign language so that they could "talk". She told him so quite boisterously on a little yellow post-it when she was invading his room with her lunch again. She would bounce on his bed, crumbs or pudding-cup wrappers falling off her tray and onto his bed trimmings as she tried to teach him what she knew. He often thought of yelling for her to get out, knowing that she would hear his words and have no retaliation for him, seeing as she was mute, and he was deaf and did not know sign language.

One day, when she had been flapping her hands at him nearly all morning, he decided to try it. He could tell from the feel of the words in his mouth that they had come out nearly perfectly, and that "get out" was pleasantly reverberating around the small white room.

She looked shocked. Sesshoumaru expected her to cry, but instead she smiled. And she began to laugh. He could not hear it, but he could tell it was mirthful, melodious laughter, like a gleeful child's. When she stopped laughing, she smiled at his stern face and furrowed brows. Then she held up her hands, made a few signs, and mouthed, "Get out". Figuring that this would at least be useful, he imitated her signs until she clapped her hands together happily; he had gotten it right.

With what he knew to be a properly cruel smirk on his face, he repeated the signs and glared at her. She smiled and bounced off of the bed. As she picked up her tray, she mouthed, _"Next I'll teach you 'come in', when you start to miss me."_ And she flounced out of the room.

So he let her teach him how to sign.

Sesshoumaru was bored; he had nothing to do in the bland, colorless halls of the hospice. The war was many miles outside of the city, and until he would be called to rejoin the fight, he was stuck here.

She entertained him, at least; all sunshine and smiles as she tried to teach him what she knew, and he ignored her blatantly. She would pout, and huff, and fold her arms, and leave, only to return later when he could not help but pay attention to her lessons, boredom driving him near mad in her absence.

One day she went out to the farthest building in the small hospice complex, taking the laundry out. He felt something was wrong as the rain started to fall, sensed something amiss in the time it was taking her to fill the machines. So he stalked out into the storm, across the empty courtyard, and around the side of the furthest building.

Red filled his vision when he found her. Surrounded by four men, each with a knife or gun, one of them trying his best to push the small end of a baseball bat between her loins, enjoying how she locked her knees and cried out against the hand the held her mouth.

The first to charge him slipped in his own blood, a sagging lump in his pants all that was left of his manhood. The second followed after his friend, dropping his knife as he ran. The bullets from the third man's gun caught Sesshoumaru in the chest and abdomen, but the offender couldn't shoot once his hand was lying in a puddle in front of him, twitching fingers still grasping his handgun. The final man's knife made a deep cut along Sesshoumaru's stomach, but the wound Sesshoumaru left in his side would never heal. He watched the man limp after his followers and disappear around the hospice wall.

He turned to look at their victim. Soaking wet, shaking from fear and cold, tears and rain pouring down her face. She stood slowly, shakily: leaning on the wall for support, and looked up at him gradually. Then she smiled softly, tears still flowing down her cheeks.

Her hospital scrubs were tattered rags from the careful attention of thugs with knives, so he knew that a little of his blood could not make the situation any worse, and moved to pick her up. She pressed a hand to his face, worried for him, surveying his wounds. He did not know what to make of it. He could not understand how this small, fragile, human woman, tearful and frightened, who came so close to rape, could be fretting over his health.

It baffled him. Even after she refused his offer to carry her: it would aggravate his wounds, she said.

It baffled him. Even after she washed all traces of her attackers from her skin, and yet sat and watched the nurse apply bandages to his chest.

It baffled him. Even after she crawled into his bed to sleep, making sure to check his bandages before curling up in a ball at his side.

It baffled him. Even after he woke to find her gone, only to watch her breeze into the room with trays of breakfast for both of them.

* * *

Her name was Rin, and he had never seen the sun shine for a human as it shone for her. She lit up the halls with her smile, and when they met, day or night, he would say her name in his head, _Rin_, like a greeting. And every time she would look at him and smile her brightest smile, and he knew she had heard him.

She was frightened of thunderstorms and her alleyway encounter had not helped her fears. It stormed nearly a week straight after that night, and Rin was always with him, her arms wrapped around him, careful not to grip too tightly for fear his healed wounds would magically open again.

And when the rain stopped, and Rin no longer came to his bedside, Sesshoumaru felt empty. And it was perhaps not the fact that he felt, but the fact the he felt nothing that made him miss her so at night.

And then one night, she came back. It was raining, and she always liked rain without thunder or lightening. She smiled that smile he liked so much and kissed him gently, holding his face in her small human hands.

Rin always looked him in the eye. No other human, and indeed few youkai, had ever dared look him in they eye. But Rin always met his gaze with a smile before she kissed him, and after. She held his eyes until she was ready for him, when she would shut them slowly and lean her head into the crook of his neck, gripping him tightly. And he would lay her down and smother her body with kisses, loving her quietly. And he would feel her breathe, shudder, and moan, and it was a thousand times better than hearing her. And he would lose himself in her touch, in her fingers as they gripped his hair, in her mouth as she moved it along his body, in her love as he drowned in it.

For the first time Sesshoumaru could see something beyond destruction in his future. He could see Rin, smiling at him, filling a vase with flowers for him, as she did at the hospice. And twice a week, when the patients would don civilian clothes and venture out to the park across the street, Sesshoumaru would hold Rin to him the whole time, pressing his hand against her side jealously. She always laughed.

And then one day, it was over.

Sesshoumaru knew the instant the orderly told him he had a visitor. He knew before he saw his commanding officer reading a parenting magazine in the lobby, rolling a toothpick along his chapped lower lip.

He could not find Rin as he packed what few things he had in the pocket of his uniform. He scanned the halls for her, but she was nowhere to be found. As he accompanied the general to the door, the entire hospice watching him depart, he felt the floor beneath him quiver with strong footsteps.

When he turned, she was behind him, out of breath, frazzled, wearing a look of confused pain on her beautiful sun-kissed face. He bent to kiss her, not caring what anyone thought, and she threw her arms around him, holding him desperately.

When they broke, she was crying silently. She bent her middle and ring fingers and pressed the sign for "I love you" into his chest, looking up at him ardently. He pulled her to him and gripped her as tightly as he could without crushing her, breathing in the last of her scent, feeling her hair on his face, cherishing the weight of her body against his for the last time.

She leaned up on tiptoe, one hand in his hair, the other gripping his back. He mustered his will and whispered softly in her ear:

"I will come back for you."

Rin's tears began anew, and she clutched him to her as tightly as possible. When at last she released him, it was to kiss him one last desperate time. Then she let him go. And he could do nothing but turn and march out the door, leaving her behind him.

* * *

Rin stayed at the hospice, trained to be an orderly. She lived in a small apartment overlooking the park. She kept a fish. She smiled through every workday, enjoying helping the patients and spending time with them. She spent as much time in the hospice as she could on her days off, not wanting to go home where everything was surrounded by loneliness.

She received many suitors: patients, doctors, and visitors alike. The most persistent was a handsome young patient, Kohaku. Day in, day out, he made his advances. Day in, day out, she refused him politely, always in an effort to preserve their friendship. It wasn't long until one of the nurses told him the truth of the situation.

The next day, he asked her again, and she refused him again with a laugh and a friendly smile. As she walked away, he asked, "What if he doesn't come back?"

Rin stopped. Slowly, she turned around and signed, "_He will"._

_

* * *

_

Four years passed, the war came to an end and the sun was again in Rin's step. One day, as she busied herself with putting fresh flowers in the vases in patients' rooms, she heard her name called on the intercom. Someone to see her.

Her palms were sweaty as she walked down the hall, trying not to hope. She reached the rec room, faces of coworkers and patients watching her curiously. She met Kohaku's eyes and he smiled and nodded his head in the direction of the door.

Sesshoumaru had his back turned to her, draped in a long military overcoat, green and dusty, but she knew it was him. Her heart was beating so quickly she thought it might stop dead from exertion.

When he turned to her, she made a small, wet noise, and broke into a grin. He was haggard looking, fresh marks on his face and neck from the last battle he would ever see, clothes dusty and worn, and left arm completely missing. Sesshoumaru stood tall, regal and composed, looking straight into her eyes, a man torn to pieces who made her whole, and who was made whole in turn by her love. And Rin threw her arms around him and held him to her, and Sesshoumaru gripped her as tightly as he could, his brows furrowing as he clung to her, breathing her in.

And as the afternoon sun burst into the room, illuminating them, he whispered:

"I'm home."

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review.


	5. 28: Wada Calcium CD3

Chapter 4- #28- Wada Calcium CD3

Hello, and welcome to chapter four! I'm in a good mood, because this means I've written two chapters in under a week! (I just held off posting because I wanted to space out my posts like a meaniepoop ;P) I've also been sick, and I'm just starting to recover, so I've had a lot of time to write. Expect an update by the end of next week! :D

Again, thanks to anyone who alerted or favorite-ed this story, and thanks so much to my reviewers- you guys rock!

As far as a soundtrack goes, I don't really have one for this fic (eek, impossible!) I came up with the whole thing while at my computer, and all I listened to was the theme from "Silverado", which is one of the best movie scores ever, and "Heartbreaker" by Korean rapper/pop star, G-Dragon. Neither of these songs has anything to do with the fic, lol. But, I suppose, since there's photography involved…how about "Freeze-Frame" by the J. Geils Band? XD

Notes:

-Wada Calcium CD3 is, apparently, a calcium supplement for those who don't get enough dairy, veggies, or fish. Apparently. So says the intarwebz.

-"Ano" is Japanese for "um/uh"

-"Kusou" is Japanese for "shit/crap" (which are really the same thing, because there are no legitimate cuss words in Japanese.)

-Rin is roughly 21, Sesshoumaru is…?

-Do Youkai exist in this AU? You decide, 'cause it can go either way. :D

Rated: K + because Kouga's got a dirty mouth.

**Wada Calcium CD3**

**

* * *

**

Rin sighed and fidgeted quietly. The company rep, makeup artist, and lighting designer were all bickering anxiously amongst themselves a few feet away from her.

"I told you," said the lighting designer, Hoshiyomi, "We want her to face _this_ direction when she does the little twirl thing- otherwise her face'll be lit from underneath, like a monster!"

"The twirl isn't going to look right facing that direction," said the rep, Kouga, staunchly.

"Oh? And are you a dancer?" asked the make-up artist, Jakotsu.

"My wife does ballet," Kouga sneered.

Rin chewed her lip and looked around anxiously. The men who set the shoot up had long since left, and the only people left in the loft space were her, the three arguing men, and the photographer, who sat in the corner watching the dispute, blank faced.

Rin turned back to watch the argument. When her photography professor had suggested she take up modeling part-time to help with her photography hobby, this was certainly not what she had expected. They told her on the phone that all she had to do was smile and hold up a bottle of the promoted product, Wada Calcium CD3. Now they couldn't decide how to light her or make her up for some strange interpretive dance routine. About calcium. She sighed.

The men had begun to yell.

"Look, I represent the product: I call the shots-!"

"You don't understand that it's _impossible_ unless I change the light position-!"

"So do it, dickweed-!"

"STOP!" Rin cried, instantly sorry she had done so. The room went silent but for the hum of the lights. Everyone was looking at her.

"Please," she said, "I was hoping I could maybe…can I say something?"

Koga scoffed. "The model can speak?"

Rin pretended no to hear him.

"Ano, I thought maybe we could go with the original idea…?"

The three men were silent. None of them seemed to know what the original idea was.

"Well," said Rin, flustered, "um, I would just hold the bottle in my palm and, uh, smile."

Silence followed her suggestion. The three arguers mulled it over, and it appeared to Rin that they were trying to find reasons_ not_ to do it her way.

"Do it."

All eyes turned to the photographer, still sitting in the corner. His gold eyes looked at all of them blankly.

"The lighting is ideal, the backdrop is already set, the makeup can be simple and quickly done, and I will get seriously irritated if we delay any longer."

Rin smiled congenially at her lone supporter.

"Keep your pants on, Sesshoumaru," snapped Kouga. But, looking at his watch, he sighed.

"Kusou. He's right, let's get this done. It's my anniversary and Ayame's gonna kill me if I don't get home soon."

With that, he scooted off to the side to call his employer and let him know the shoot was underway. Sesshoumaru began to set up his camera on a tripod, and Jakotsu led Rin to a stool, smiling and chatting away as he prepared to do her eye makeup.

Fifteen minutes later they were almost done with the shoot. Rin's arm was getting tired, but she said nothing. Kouga checked his watch.

"Last one," he said tersely. Sesshoumaru nodded and Rin, happy to say goodbye to the whole event, kissed the little bottle of WCCD3 goodbye affectionately. One more handful of clicks, and the shoot was done. Hoshiyomi unplugged the lights, Jakotsu packed up his kit, and Kouga bolted out the door in search of the nearest florist.

* * *

The cold November air hit Rin as she walked outside, buttoning the collar of her coat quickly. The wind seemed to blow right through her as she walked towards the subway. When at last she reached her track, she noticed the photographer (Sesshoumaru- was that his name?) come and stand a few feet away from her, looking out at nothing.

As she waited for the next train, Rin couldn't help but glance at Sesshoumaru occasionally. He was very attractive, and she was drawn inexplicably to his strange white hair, cut short at the nape of the neck and styled with long bangs. It was this exact attribute that she was staring at when he at last noticed her attentions.

Rin decided that the most foolproof way to fix the awkward moment was to give him her best cute wave. At this, Sesshoumaru huffed noncommittally. Rin walked towards him as nonchalantly as possible. He pretended not to notice.

She eyed his camera bag and asked, "Is that the new Nikon D7000?"

Sesshoumaru turned to look at her. His face was deadpan but for one slightly raised silver eyebrow, but Rin could tell he was surprised. He cocked his head slightly when he spoke.

"Yes."

"What kinda lens do you have on it?" Asked Rin, eyes bright.

"105 mm." He said, enjoying how wide Rin's eyes had become.

"You know a little about cameras," he observed. Rin nodded, smiling happily.

"I love taking photos of everything. I have more photos of subway stations than you can imagine!" She said, gesturing around the tunnel.

"What kind of camera do you have?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Well, I have an old Polaroid, and a tiny little fisheye, but my baby is a Nikon D3000." She grinned. "I'm saving up to get a great zoom lens. That's why I took this job, actually. My photography professor helped me get it; told me it would help to learn to think from the other side of the lens."

Sesshoumaru seemed to smirk slightly. "Totosai," he said. Rin looked shocked.

"How'd you…?"

"Old family friend," he replied, "Crazy, too."

"A little," said Rin with a laugh.

They were silent for a moment. Then Sesshoumaru made a decision.

"What is your name?"

"Oh! I'm Karana Rin," She said, bowing her head quickly, and smiling her brightest smile.

"Karana-san," he confirmed, "Show me some of your work."

"Mine?" Rin was shocked at his forward query. "Oh well, I mean, I just mess around really, I-."

"I insist." It was a firm and gruff sounding statement, but for some reason it made Rin feel quite warm and fuzzy inside.

"I have some of my stuff on my laptop," She offered, "Maybe we could get something to eat or drink…?"

Sesshoumaru nodded and turned on his heel, walking away.

Rin was baffled and crushed. What the hell had just happened? It had been going so well…

From the stairs, Sesshoumaru turned to look at her, a quizzical look on his placid face.

"Are you coming?"

* * *

I swear, one day, I _will_ end a one of these ficlets with something _besides_ a one-liner. Someday. XD

I'm proud of this one 'cause it's _the shortest one shot I've written to date_! Yay! And I know Rin kissed the bottle and not Sesshoumaru but still…it counts…

Ps. -I know jackshit about cameras: can you tell? XD

Please review!


	6. 15: Perfect Blue

Chapter 5- #15- Perfect Blue

Woo! Lookit me churning this shit out! I'm so proud. :D)

I was sick last week, so I took one day off of class, and we had the next day off anyway, so I had a nice five-day weekend to write. Conveniently, I have another five-day weekend this week, so more chapters to come soon! :)

Uh, Soundtrack! Yes! I listened to "Chocolate Love" by SNSD during the first few scenes because I'm on a serious K-Pop kick right now. I listened to "Shots" by LMFAO and Lil Jon when R and S venture out at night…'cause I love that song (don't judge! XD). For the smexy part I listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's version of "Summertime" (not an aria version, 'cause high pitched opera is a mood killer ;P). Finally, for the end of the story I listened to "Still Fighting It" by Ben Folds.

Rin is in her late twenties.

Sesshoumaru is…?

Youkai do exist in this particular AU.

"…"- speech

"…"- thought

-"Ano" is Japanese for "um/uh"

Rated: T+ for alcohol use and mild lime-y content.

* * *

**Perfect Blue**

Rin lowered the plane slowly. The small metal craft slid beneath the clouds and sailed loftily above the now visible Indian Ocean. The pilot smiled and switched to autopilot, lifting her now cold tea from the cup holder beside her. She leaned back in her chair and sighed, looking ahead.

In the early morning light, without a cloud in the sky, the horizon had vanished. Both sky and sea were connected, nearly mirror images of dusky blue. It was Rin's favorite thing in the world, when everything seemed to come to order. Earth and sky were connected as one, as though the world were a painting and the master stroke dividing sky and sea had yet to touch the canvas. A perfect blue.

Then, as soon as the infinite blue had appeared, it vanished: the sun's light hit the ocean and clouds began to appear again in front of the small plane. Rin sighed and gulped down some more tea. In a little over an hour they would land at Narita, and then Rin would finally be able to sleep.

The day had been a long one, and it was only 12:30. Up since 3:00 am and having performed three flights in that time with no breaks, she was dead tired. Not to mention the fact that she had tripped and fallen in the middle of a terminal, spilled the contents of her thermos all over herself twice, and had her rear end groped in an airport shuttle. Rin grimaced and took one more sip of tea. At least things were peaceful and quiet up in the air, just the way she liked them.

As she put her thermos in its holster she switched back to manual function and thought about how glorious her five hour nap was going to be. The little plane began its slow descent to earth.

* * *

Sesshoumaru was frustrated. He would have said _beyond_ frustrated if he did not think emotions were so trivial. Frustrated, however, would serve well enough, as it meant his ireful youki would clear people out of his way as he strode through the Tokyo airport.

Narita seemed even more crowded than usual and the people milling about him seemed even slower than usual, especially the Americans. They frequently stopped in the middle of the terminal to take a picture or talk loudly on their cell phones.

Damn InuYasha for taking the plane again! It was the fifth time this month! Just because the brat was his half-brother did not mean he could steal Sesshoumaru's jet and fly around the world promoting his newest album. Now here Sesshoumaru was, scrounging around the Narita airport in search of a pilot and a plane to get him to Shanghai in time for his conference.

As he pushed open the doors to the small, secluded lounge, he saw exactly what he was looking for. She was standing at the counter in the corner of the room waiting for the beverage machine to spit out a cup of tea. Sesshoumaru saw the machine flash "out of stock" briefly before the woman made a high pitched squeal of anger and began to kick the counter.

He cocked his head to one side and watched her continue her ministrations on the machine, which now included whispered American curses and childish foot stomping. He could not say it was unpleasant watching her move in her tailored navy blue pants, her high ponytail of long brown hair swishing about as she attacked. Sesshoumaru had assumed she wouldn't be flying today, but here she was: the pilot that had hauled him practically everywhere, rain or shine, when his brother had stolen the jet on earlier occasions. He watched her shoulders slump as she gave the cabinet one last pathetic kick.

"Rin-san."

She jumped at his voice and turned to face him, surprised: she hadn't expected to see him. Not that she ever _did _expect to see him- Sesshoumaru only came her way when he had no other mode of transportation available. But, she was happy to see him nonetheless, her tense shoulders relaxing and her face instantly smiling up at him.

"Sesshoumaru-san," she said, folding her arms across her chest, "and what brings you here? Lose your plane again?"

"Hijacking my personal jet seems to be InuYasha's favorite activity," Sesshoumaru replied blankly. Rin put a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her laughter as everyone else in the lounge turned to glare at Sesshoumaru: didn't he know not to say "hijack" in an airport?

"So," she said, "I suppose you're here to ruin my day then?"

"Why else would this Sesshoumaru be here?"

"Well," she replied with a wave of her hand, "you're too late, it's already ruined."

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow.

Rin sighed and, realizing he was not going to ask 'what's wrong', ploughed on.

"When?"

"Now."

"No, fifteen minutes."

Sesshoumaru said nothing and turned to make himself some coffee. Rin knew this was as close to an "okay" as she was going to get, and she left the lounge to get her plane ready to fly.

* * *

The grey clouds grouped around the airplane as it climbed into the sky, leaving the wet runway behind. Just as the wheels began to tuck themselves into the plane's belly, Sesshoumaru wrenched open the cockpit door, leaned against the doorframe, and looked out the window blankly. Rin stared at him incredulously.

"Excuse me!" she cried, "we're still in ascent! See how the plane is tilted? Sit down!"

Sesshoumaru looked at her quizzically and slid into the foldout seat in the corner. Rin rolled here eyes.

"Put your belt on."

He obliged. As he did so, a loud thud could be heard, followed by the sound of something sliding across the floor. Rin glared ahead.

"Was that your laptop?" She asked venomously.

"No," replied Sesshoumaru.

He leaned his head around the door to look into the cabin.

"Yes."

Rin sighed and shook her head as Sesshoumaru went right back to looking out the window for the next ten minutes.

It wasn't that she didn't like having Sesshoumaru in the cockpit: on the contrary, Rin enjoyed his company. They rarely spoke, seeing as his attention was usually on his laptop, a report, or a newspaper, but she didn't mind. She liked silence and enjoyed having someone to keep her company anyways.

He was so nonchalant about everything, though! Sometimes Rin just wished he would yell or do something completely random to prove that he was still alive. Like coming up behind her chair and clasping his hands around her shoulders, his breath tickling her neck and ruffling her hair as he trailed kiss after kiss down her gullet and onto her collarbone…

Sesshoumaru stood suddenly and made his way into the cabin to retrieve his laptop from wherever it had fallen. Blushing headily, Rin pursed her lips and tried her best to keep her mind blank for the rest of the flight.

Once they had landed and Rin had said goodbye to her baby with a kiss to its metal snout (Sesshoumaru shaking his head in the background all the while), they set off towards a small building near the airstrip, outside which Sesshoumaru had a car waiting.

As the car started off, Rin asked Sesshoumaru where he was staying.

"The Hotel Nikko," he said in a bored tone. Rin grinned. She had intended to stay at the exact same hotel as kind of a splurge in celebration of her birthday. Sesshoumaru grunted in reply. Rin frowned and turned to look out the window.

"_Not even a 'happy birthday?' or a 'you must be ancient by now' or…or… something?"_

Rin's mood only worsened when they arrived at the hotel. Sesshoumaru scurried off to take a call as Rin reached the receptionist.

"I would like a room for tonight, please," she said, smiling.

The woman looked at her pityingly. "Ano, we only have a few of our luxury suites left, I…I'm sorry."

This was the icing on top of Rin's miserable dry-as-dirt birthday cake.

"What?" She asked, hoping she'd heard wrong.

"I… we don't have any rooms left…" repeated the poor young woman, looking pale under pressure.

"None?" Queried Sesshoumaru from behind Rin.

The receptionist looked from Rin to Sesshoumaru in confusion.

"Well, as I was telling her, we have several luxury suites left, but no other rooms available until tomorrow. I'm so sorry, it's our busiest time of the-."

"A suite, then," said Sesshoumaru in an almost disdainful tone, producing a credit card and handing it to the woman. Rin sighed and brought a hand to her face in frustration. The receptionist looked at her apologetically as she scanned Sesshoumaru's card.

"I guess I'll get a cab…" said Rin, raising the handle of her suitcase.

"There are two bedrooms in a suite, Rin-san," said Sesshoumaru like it was something every three year old knew. Rin blinked, confused.

"You will stay there."

Rin was sure her mouth was open. "…Share?" She said, utterly bewildered. The receptionist looked between them both curiously.

"Yes," said Sesshoumaru, as though having to say it was completely redundant.

"But…I… you already paid-!"

"You could not afford it anyway," he replied in his best bored tone, marching off toward the elevator.

"I- that's not the…_Sesshoumaru!_" She spluttered angrily as she darted into the elevator after him leaving a very bemused receptionist in her wake.

"This Sesshoumaru was not under the impression we were on a first name basis," He said, his tone still edgy.

"We are now that we're _sharing a room_-!"

He visibly rolled his eyes. Rin stamped her foot.

"You can't just act like you own half the world, dishing things out to the lowly peasants when you feel generous-!"

"I do not own half of the world, _Rin_, merely a _32__nd_…"

Sesshoumaru stalked out of the elevator with Rin marching furiously after him.

"Oh! A 32nd! So that means you can shower random people with friggin' hotel rooms-!"

Sesshoumaru slid his card through the slot in the door and threw it open.

"This Sesshoumaru has just flown two and a half hours only to find his conference is cancelled!" He said angrily, throwing his bags onto the cream colored couch.

'_That must've been what his phone call was about…"_ Rin realized, shortly before realizing she didn't care.

"I was the one who actually _flew _the damn plane, you forget! I've been up since three, having a terrible day, herding strangers around, and it's my _birthday_ no less!" yelled Rin as she shut the door. She flopped onto the couch, head in her hands, exasperated.

Sesshoumaru stood in the center of the room and looked at her quizzically. He then looked at his watch: 8:30.

"Do you want a drink?"

Rin lifted her head and nodded slowly. "Yeah… a drink sounds really good right about now."

Sesshoumaru nodded and picked up his hanging bag. "I will go change," he said, moving to the "master bedroom".

Rin slumped against the back of the couch and exhaled heavily. A drink, good: that was exactly what the doctor had ordered.

* * *

Rin wasn't exactly sure how much the first expensive cocktail she ordered cost, but by the time she was through with it, she didn't care. Sesshoumaru had downed five shots of God-only-knows-what by that time and was infinitely more pleasurable to be around as a result. They chatted and laughed (or rather, Rin laughed,) talked about how horrible their days had gone, and consumed a fair amount of booze. Conversation became more like playful banter once Sesshoumaru's eyes seemed unable to tear themselves away from Rin's black-dress-encased silhouette and Rin could do nothing but blush and giggle ridiculously in response.

When at last they reached the hotel (babbling stupidly the whole cab ride back), they decided that another drink was, naturally, in order. So they raided the minibar, stumbling to the couch. Sesshoumaru then proceeded to harass Rin about her bottle of Bailey's, gesturing to the Absolut in his hand.

"I have a sweet tooth," Rin explained, unable to sit up straight.

"It's a girl's drink," said Sesshoumaru, taking a large, messy swig of vodka.

"Well, I am a girl, thanks fer n-noticing!" Rin hiccupped. Sesshoumaru cocked his head to the side and slowly got up, walking towards his bedroom.

"Hey…Hey where you goin'?" Rin whined. Sesshoumaru didn't respond, turning the light on and moving around the room vaguely. Rin sighed and slumped down even further on the couch, shutting her eyes for a moment.

The sound of something hitting the coffee table got her attention. She sat up, looking at a small, dark blue rectangle sitting in front of her. Sesshoumaru took his seat slowly, staring at her.

"Well…." He said with a hint of a glare.

"Well what?" asked Rin.

"Open it," said Sesshoumaru, rolling his eyes like a teenager and taking another swig from his bottle.

Rin put down her Bailey's and cautiously began unwrapping the parcel. It was a picture frame. She turned it over.

It was a picture she had taken on Sesshoumaru's phone the last time he had flown with her, a picture of her plane sitting on the air strip, the setting sun shining off its wings. She had made it his phone wallpaper. She thought he'd deleted it.

"You…when…?" She asked, flabbergasted.

"This Sesshoumaru knew he would run into you eventually," he brushed it off with a wave of his bottle.

"You…knew it was my birthday. And you got me a…present?" Rin blinked incredulously.

Sesshoumaru said nothing, downing the last of his drink and setting the empty bottle on the table.

Rin was so unbelievably happy she felt like crying. She grinned at Sesshoumaru, but he paid her no heed, staring off into space.

She leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek, below the corner of his eye, right where his facial markings started to appear. He turned to look at her, eyes clouded with thought. Rin smiled softly, her face nearly as pink as her lips. Sesshoumaru noticed how soft they were through some kind of alcohol-induced wave of clarity.

"Thank you," Rin all but whispered. Sesshoumaru could tell she meant it. But, just in case he hadn't gotten the message, as men were sometimes wont to do, She planted a kiss on his lips, gentle and loving.

It was a while before either of their minds caught up with their actions, and by that time they were laid out along the couch, hands in each other's hair and under each other's clothes. Rin laughed softly, a little embarrassed to find herself unbuttoning Sesshoumaru's shirt. She nuzzled her face into his chest, planting a warm kiss on his clavicle as she ran the fingers of one hand along his body, resting them shyly on the bulge in his pants.

Sesshoumaru was unsure why her timid actions were so alluring, or why her simple human frame had him so extensively aroused. But at that moment he did not care, and some part of him realized that he never would.

Instead of dwelling on the matter, as his typically rational and logical mind would normally have done, Sesshoumaru pulled Rin against him tightly and began to unzip the back of her dress. His hands clasped her shoulders as he trailed kisses down her neck, his breath tickling her face and rustling her hair. Rin laughed so hard she nearly choked, but Sesshoumaru was too lost to care. He rolled her skirt up to her waist and placed a hand on her pale stomach. His hands clasped the heat between her legs gently and he covered her face in kisses until her laughing lips formed a silent "O", her eyes fluttering closed.

Sesshoumaru kissed her then, and they both melted at the touch, exhaling all of their tension and frustration and relinquishing their hold on the rest of the world. What did it matter now? Now that their pulses raced in throats connected, now that the touch of a finger to a finger was like a silent shockwave?

They stood, almost as one, and moved like molasses towards the nearest bedroom. Slow because they were drunk, on alcohol and sudden love; slow because they had all the time in the world to explore one another. Slow because time meant nothing to two people in such a blissful state (though they probably would have blamed it solely on the alcohol). Slowly they turned out the light and slowly they shut the door, and slowly they found their own euphoria.

* * *

When Rin woke, it was early. Her skull was throbbing, but she smiled as she looked at Sesshoumaru, asleep beside her. She knew she should be afraid that their night in white sheets had been a onetime affair, but somehow she knew otherwise. It filled her with a strange sense of joy, warming her from top to bottom.

She slid out of bed as quietly as she could and pulled on one of the yukatas hanging in the closet. As she turned to leave she caught Sesshoumaru's yellow eyes. She smiled at him warmly as she slipped through the door.

A beautiful sight greeted her.

The sun was just beginning to rise, not yet glistening on the water of the bay. Rin looked out through the large glass windows that paneled the room. The silver buildings of Shanghai were barely touched by light, and the bay and sky met in one perfect shade of blue. Rin grinned helplessly, headache gone.

She felt him there before she heard his footsteps. He stood silently behind her, looking out at the same blue sky and the same blue sea.

"It's almost…perfect… don't you think?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of the view. Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around her in response. Rin closed her eyes briefly, holding his arms as she leaned her head against his chest.

"InuYasha's birthday is next week." Sesshoumaru said.

"Oh?"

"Yes."

The buildings had begun to glisten with the first light of morning.

"Perhaps I will give the jet to him. As a birthday present."

Rin smiled.

"I think that's a good idea." She said, still looking straight ahead, beaming out at the world.

They watched the sun crest the horizon and rise above the water, casting its rays throughout the city. Everything glowed in the gaze of the morning sun, pink and gold with its attention. And when the colors had faded, and the sun had climbed to its rightful place, Sesshoumaru turned Rin away from the window, one arm still wrapped around her.

Their cell phones began to ring almost simultaneously from different ends of the room. They shut them off.

And in the silent bedroom, dark but for a sliver of morning light on the floor, they shut their eyes and left the world behind them for the rest of the morning.

* * *

Woo! And I didn't end it with a one liner: how bout' them apples?

Remember the ps. in my last A/N? Well…

Pps.- I know jackshit about planes and the Hotel Nikko Shanghai. I don't even think it's called that…

Y'know, the more I write, the more I realize that I always use the same words to describe Rin and Sesshoumaru. I guess it keeps them in character, but it's still amusing to me. Sesshoumaru's always doing something blankly, nonchalantly, or noncommittally and he's always uninterested or bored. Rin is always blushing, blinking, or smiling at something and it's always done incredulously or with her mouth open. XD Predictability….

Thanks for reading y'all: please review! Pwetty pwease?


	7. 4: Our Distance and That Person

Chapter 6- #4- Our Distance and That Person

Happy New year! :D

In honor of the coming of 2011 and the year of the rabbit, I reward you with this little chappie. Thanks so much for being patient! I've been having to manage my time between many facets of interests and fandoms and I obviously haven't been doing very well. ;P So, I figured I owed you something for your long wait.

To the ever wonderful **Rickashay **and the lovely **anhimals** and **lychee loving,** thanks for sticking with me. You always review, often critique, and never give up. Without your patience, I would never be able to kick myself into a high enough gear to sit down and write. And for **LittleRin26 **for being so darn sweet. :D

AU: Youkai exist.

Rin is in her late twenties, Sesshoumaru is…?

Written in Sesshoumaru's POV.

Rated K.

Onwards!

**Our Distance and That Person**

**

* * *

**

We are fighting again. It is the same old argument- responsibility, character, integrity, bah- as though these are the only things we two can manage to focus on.

You roll your eyes as you reach into the little black clutch hanging off the back of your chair and pull out a pack of fags. Is _this_ why we're sitting in the smoking section?

At least there is something new to argue about; since when do you smoke? You pathetic humans die so often and so slowly from smoking, what makes you think it is by any means practical? Oh, 'there's lots you don't know about me?' Scathing. Really, that stung. Stop giving me that pathetic pout, you are no teenager, fool.

Yes, yes you are a fool- what else would you call yourself? You are a fool woman who takes life far too seriously, spits on the grave of a once perfectly decent relationship, and takes up smoking to spite the other party. Am I being sarcastic? Hardly: you are practically self-destructive and I am glad to be rid of you.

Oh, you do not believe this Sesshoumaru? And what reason do you have to doubt what I tell you? Besides which- what would make me sink so low as to miss your lowly human countenance? Not the pleasant company of your constant ramblings and bothersome chatter and certainly not your meager mortal form and less-than ample bosom. You are nothing short of ordinary and this Sesshoumaru is something far better than anything extraordinary you will ever get, woman.

Do not walk away from me! This Sesshoumaru will not have you causing a scene in front of all of these people, patrons of a fine restaurant far better suited to their atmosphere than you. Look at you- shabbily dressed, taking long drags from your disgusting wad of tobacco: who do you think you are? Nothing- you are nothing.

Ah, and there he is- your equally pathetic cavalry come over the hill in his black sedan. Come to shelter you from the rain has he, your precious Kohaku? Ah, how lucky for you to have found someone equally as pathetic as you- and yes, I am capable of using other words; 'pathetic' simply happens to be the perfect adjective for you and I have had a fair amount to drink, not to make an excuse of any sort.

Yes, yes, go on- get in the car, ride away with him, let him shepherd you away from your troubles and doubts and old flames. Go on. I do not intend to see you again, you are not worth my valuable time, so I will therefore see you off befittingly with a kiss to your cheek through the rain-slicked glass of the passengerside window, and do not worry: I will not remember your shocked and tender expression- I do not think so highly of you.

Yes, drive away. Away from this Sesshoumaru! I will not miss you!

…I will not miss you.

* * *

Sorry for a grim one! I'm no fan of Rin/Kohaku, but this little thing popped into my head at the last second. I hope the next one will be cheerier…and longer. Who knows- perhaps it'll have a continuation one day…

Please review! :D


	8. 18: Say Ahh

Chapter 6- #18- "Say Ahhh…"

Rated: M- joo haz been warned…

Hey y'all! I'm sorry I've been gone so long, but I had a legit reason this time, lol: but I can't talk about it, it's a secret. ;P No but seriously, it is. XD

Anyway! **This chapter, be warned, is pretty much all heavily sexual. Nicely done, methinks, and funny at times, but just be prepared.** Some of my reviewers wanted a bit more sensuality in the next chapter (**anhimals**, I'm looking at you… ;P) so I am obliging the smut request. Please be gentle with any criticisms you might have- it's been several years since I tired to write something of this caliber of lemony-ness. It's not full on, and I think it's fairly tasteful, but yeah: proceed with caution.

So yeah: I sat down this afternoon and decided I needed to write. So I looked at my prompts, thought up a good idea for this one and went with it. So this chapter has only been existence for eight hours total: that's my new record for shortest thought process on a chappie! Yay, be proud of me.

I have to go away for a little while again, but I'll be back with more kisses and a new fic, too. :D I promise.

Soundtrack: just Etta James' "The Sky Is Crying", or any other sensual jazzy song you can think of. ;P

Rin is 28, Sesshoumaru is…?

AU: youkai _do_ exist.

Rated: M. No, seriously. Not playing this time. XD

"**Say Ahhh…"**

Sesshoumaru sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. He ran his eyes over the folder in his hands, but none of the information on the page seemed to stay lodged in his brain for more than a nanosecond. He tried to read it again, but in vain; he could not even recall the patient's name, and though he knew full well the name was neatly labeled on the side of the folder, he refused to look at it as a matter of principle and stubborn pride.

Grimly he threw the patient's file on the desk and leaned back in his chair. He looked at his watch and made a quiet grunt of fatigue. According to said watch, whose hands indicated it was 3:32 a.m., he had been on the clock for nearly eighteen hours with no end in sight. He sighed.

There was an abrupt knock at the door.

Sesshoumaru glared at the muddled shadow projected against the opaque glass door of his office.

"What?" He barked angrily, hoping to frighten away whatever intern dared interrupt his solitude.

"Dr. Taisho, sir? I have those files we were going to go over…"

Sesshoumaru arched a silver eyebrow and sat up quickly. He recognized the woman's voice, but not the nature of her errand.

"Yes, Dr. Matsushida, let's get this over with…" He said gruffly.

Rin Matsushida. New to the hospital- transferred only a month prior. Human, 28, Japanese-American: long brown hair with eyes to match, an attractive figure and face, both dotted with light freckles.

Sesshoumaru's right eyebrow was still raised as Rin slipped in the office with an armful of manila folders and, quietly, locked the door behind her. She flashed him a pearly white smile that Sesshoumaru pretended had no effect on him.

"Why," he asked in that smooth voice that made her shiver, "are you bringing me these, I never asked for them?"

Rin smiled mischievously. Sesshoumaru's neck felt warm all of a sudden.

"Oh, they were just a diversion, in case Jaken over there notices how long I'm in here."

She spoke of the little green imp who manned the nurses' station and hung on Sesshoumaru's every word.

"You know how he gets jealous if you look at anyone but him…" Rin said as she piled the files neatly on the chair in front of Sesshoumaru's desk.

"So…" said Sesshoumaru, leaning his chin on his hands. Rin hated to admit that she enjoyed the pose; "why are you really here?"

Rin smirked prettily. Sesshoumaru looked at her fiendishly.

"I need your help," Rin said sweetly.

"Oh?" Sesshoumaru replied.

"Yes, you see, the kids in B hall tied the belt on my coat in a weird knot, and I was hoping you could get it out for me?" She flashed him her best coy smile.

Sesshoumaru beckoned her forward with a crook of his finger. Rin edged closer cautiously.

Slowly Sesshoumaru stood, carefully reached around Rin's back, and began untying the jumbled knot in her white lab coat. They maintained eye contact with one another all the while, breathing steadily. Rin rubbed her lips together apprehensively.

"There," said Sesshoumaru, releasing the ties and letting them trail behind Rin.

"Thank you," Rin said, "should I go?"

"No," said Sesshoumaru, "There appears to be something wrong with this button." He picked at the top button of Rin's lacey green sleeveless blouse.

"It looks fine to me," said Rin. Sesshoumaru shook his head.

"No. It's wrong." He said stiffly and began to undo it. Rin laughed.

"Stop laughing, this is serious: you cannot continue to work in this hospital if your buttons are so plainly abnormal- this next one is too, and this one…"

Rin giggled as he undid the last three buttons, exposing her gray bra.

"What, no green lace to go with the shirt? A little more effort woman…" said Sesshoumaru reproachfully.

"Excuse me, sir!" Rin said, backing away, "I dunno about you, but when I dress for work, I wear what's comfortable, not what I think you'll find aesthetically pleasing- what color boxers are you wearing, do they go with your tie?"

"Rainbow," Sesshoumaru lied blithely.

"Oh, well at least they match your personality," Rin quipped.

They looked at each other for a moment. Then another.

Then they scrambled into each other's arms.

Rin threw her coat into the corner and wrenched Sesshoumaru's off his shoulders. He ran one hand along her backside and wove the other into her hair. Rin undid his tie as she worked her mouth against his, giving a laugh of triumph as she tossed the gray strip of silk towards the door. She pulled away from him and frowned.

"Your buttons are all wrong, sir: I should have you reported!"

Sesshoumaru snarled and kissed her roughly, scooping her into his arms and sidling over to his desk where he set her down. Rin kicked off her heels and began to unbutton his shirt, laughing all the while.

"You know," said Sesshoumaru as he worked Rin's skirt up around her waist, "something seems off about my belt buckle as well…"

"We'll just have to take it off then," Rin smirked, moving to undo the offending buckle. When she had undone the belt and ripped the shirt off, and Sesshoumaru had removed his undershirt, they paused for a moment. Sesshoumaru kicked off his pants and reached for Rin's underwear.

"Nope! Where's the towel?"

"Are you that wet already?" Mocked Sesshoumaru.

"Are you having trouble getting hard?" Sassed Rin.

With a glare, Sesshoumaru reached in the bottom drawer of his desk and removed a blue towel, which he handed to Rin. She jumped down, doubled up the towel, and laid it down on the desk. Then, perkily, she bounced back up and sat on it like a cushion. She crooked a finger at Sesshoumaru and pulled him towards her with an invisible fishing line. He rolled his eyes. She laughed and cast off her shirt as Sesshoumaru began to pull his boxers down.

"Oh wait!" Cried Rin, when their lips were inches apart, "I almost forgot!"

She turned to her left and gently moved Sesshoumaru's laptop to the furthest corner of the desk. Then, with a smile, she shoved everything else onto the floor.

She turned back to Sesshoumaru. "There!"

He glared back. "Every time."

"I'm sorry, it's just so fun! I mean really, _you_ try being on the desk next time and we'll see how you feel about having all this shit around you," Rin said. Sesshoumaru prevented her from any further elaboration by wetting her lips with his, slipping his tongue along the roof of her mouth so that she shivered. She retaliated by wrapping her arms around him and dragging him closer so she could lightly bite the tip of his tongue. They broke for air and Rin began to run her hands along Sesshoumaru's back, pressing her body against his and placing kisses on his neck and collarbone. Sesshoumaru brought his left hand to her left breast and reached inside her bra to cup it gently.

"Where have you been all week?" He queried between licks to her pink and now swollen nipple, "You never came to see me…"

"Came to see you? It was _your_ turn to find _me_ this week, remember, and you never did, so I had to take matters into my own hands!" Rin said as she stopped chewing on the pointed tip of Sesshoumaru's right ear, "Remember? You said you'd find me and I promised to be in my wing, waiting, every time I was on break. It was your idea…"

"Was I inside you when I made this suggestion?" Sesshoumaru queried, looking up at Rin from his place at her breast.

Rin huffed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, you were. Speaking of which: can you look me in the face and not the boob when we're having a conversation?"

Sesshoumaru sighed and stood up straight, looking Rin in the eyes.

"Conversations are not something to be had during sex, Rin…"

"Then don't initiate them, Sesshoumaru!"

Sesshoumaru gave the barest hint of a chuckle. "Initiate them? _This_ Sesshoumaru? You do nothing but chatter the whole time-."

"Mindless chatter in the heat of the moment! You asked me a question, what was a I supposed to do?"

They glared at each other vehemently for a moment. They were always at odds with one another, constantly butting heads. The glaring contest continued.

Then Rin grabbed Sesshoumaru's jaw and pulled him to her. It felt so good when they kissed, Rin couldn't remember a time when just the touch of someone's lips made her tingle the way she did with Sesshoumaru. His hand on her back as they passed in the hall made her squirm with heat, and his mouth at her ear was enough to make her want to scream in ecstasy.

Sesshoumaru let his hands roam Rin's body as his mouth met with hers. Rin was so unlike any other woman he had been with: when he touched her, it was as though her body was made for him. Every curve, every detail felt wonderful under his hands or pressed against his chest. And inside her? Rin fit him like a glove.

Sesshoumaru removed his lips from Rin's, but kept his face close. They gazed at each other playfully for a moment before Sesshoumaru lifted his left hand and began to toy with a strand of Rin's hair. He then brought his index finger to hover above Rin's nose.

"Say ahhh…" He said huskily.

Rin grinned luridly and held his hand with her two smaller ones. She examined his index finger and slowly, with a lusty look into Sesshoumaru's eyes, curled it back into his fist. She gently tugged at his middle finger, which he obligingly straightened.

"Ahhh."

Careful not to release any of the poison pent up in his blood stream, Sesshoumaru gently inserted his finger into Rin's mouth. Rin closed her lips and began to swirl her tongue around the digit, slowly, then quickly. She prodded the sharp nail with the tip of her tongue and clenched her mouth closed around the base of his finger. Fluttering eyelids and a quiet groan from Sesshoumaru told her she had done well. Gently, Rin slid away from the wet finger, smiling at Sesshoumaru. He wiped it on his shirt, hanging on the back of his nearby chair, and turned back to Rin. He pulled his boxers down to his knees and watched her remove her panties and playfully slingshot them across the room.

Sesshoumaru cocked his head and looked at her intensely.

"What?" Asked Rin, smiling.

"We should have a conversation." Said Sesshoumaru.

"…Now?" asked Rin, aware of a small wet spot already forming on the towel beneath her.

"No, over dinner."

Rin blinked.

"Or breakfast, depending on when this shift finally ends." Sesshoumaru acknowledged with a shrug of his shoulders.

Rin beamed at him. Slowly, she leaned forward and planted a sweet, slow kiss on his lips. Sesshoumaru relished it even after Rin had pulled away.

"I'd like that." She was grinning again.

Sesshoumaru nodded in response. Then he put one hand on Rin's thigh and one on her back as she wrapped an arm around him and fisted a hand in the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Shall we?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Rin smiled. "We shall."

Aaand a one liner to end it. XD

So, story time: once upon a time, when Sephora was young(er) and (more) foolish, she wrote a SesshRin AU fic about doctors and there was always all this confusion about files- where they belonged, who needed them when, etc. Often, files were used for strange purposes (typically by Kagome), like luring unsuspecting receptionist Rin into stuck-up doctor Sesshoumaru's office for awkward moments galore.

And now you know how this little chappie came to be. ;P

Please review!


	9. 14: Radio Casette Player

Chapter 8- #14- Radio-Casette Player

Whee, another one! Wrote it on the same day as the last chapter, but I wanted to draw it out a little. XD More stream-of-consciousness git 'er done writing, hope you enjoy.

I actually wrote this without music, wow! I must've been so absorbed in it that I forgot to press the play button on my keyboard, lol. I recommend "Rin and Sesshoumaru" (cuz they have their own song) from the Inuyasha soundtrack, it actually goes with this little one-shot quit nicely. ;P Fancy that.

Rin is twenty something, Sesshoumaru is thirty something.

Modern day AU, youkai do not exist.

It was a bright morning in mid-July, the kind of morning where everyone is happy to awake to the Summer sun until they remember that with the sun comes heat, shortly followed by sweat and the desire to plant oneself directly in front of the air conditioner. The weather report touted ninety-eight degrees as the high of the day, remaining in the mid eighties until noon. Those who were outside before noon would have to disagree.

Sweat clung to one runner's body as he loped along the trail in central park, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm. He skipped through songs on his iPod until finally settling on a Brahms piece. He inhaled as the music began to play, feeling refreshed, and picked up the pace a bit, ready to head home. As he bounded around the curve he looked down, adjusting the volume, and smacked straight into another runner.

The man squinted at the sun hanging just above him and slowly tried to comprehend how he had ended up lying on his back on the white gravel path. The sharp movement of an elbow against his abdomen alerted him to the source of the problem.

"Are you okay?"

The elbow removed itself from the pit of his stomach and the body it was connected to wriggled to its feet.

"Here, let me help you," said the woman who was now hovering above him, a large dark blot on the face of the sun. He swatted her hand away and got to his feet, flicking chunks of gravel off his bare knees.

"Are you okay?" the woman repeated. He flashed her his best look of utter boredom.

"I'm sorry I ran into you, it's just there's this branch here, heh: they oughta trim this thing, I swear!" The man looked at her warily as she spoke. She was attractive as far as he could tell: she was sweaty and wearing no make-up so he could not be certain about her face, though her sweaty-tanktop-incased figure did seem rather alluring.

All in all, he decided he'd spent too much time listening to the woman's incessant babbling, and so he turned away from her and took off in a sprint.

Which somehow landed him on the ground again, this time with a burning sensation on the inside of his ears.

"Ouch, _god_!" squealed the woman who was, yet again, sprawled out nearby. "Jesus, that nearly ripped my ear off!" She cried, sitting up and wincing as she massaged her pinna. It was then the man realized that their earphones had somehow become tangled during their first altercation, so that when he took off running, both sets of earphones were wrenched from their respective owner's ears.

"… Can you hear me? Sir? Sir?" the woman was hovering in front of the sun again.

"Yes, yes: I am fine," the man snapped, standing again and adjusting his sleeveless tee.

"Here, I think these are yours," said the woman, untangling his black earphones from her neon yellow ones. "There ya go!" She dropped them in his hand.

The man eyed her resentfully as he plugged the earphones back into his iPod, ignoring her cheerful chatter and plentiful laughter as she shook bits of gravel from her hair. He then noticed her mp3 player, or rather what _should_ have been an mp3 player.

"Is that a cassette player?" He blurted.

The woman stopped babbling about whatever she was babbling about and smiled the world's friendliest smile at him. "Mhmm! It's my baby, I've had it since I was three. Everybody says I should chuck it and get an iPod but I just can't let it go." Then she actually kissed the little yellow piece of plastic. He glimpsed the cassette through the window and shook his head.

"Waltzes? Are you really listening to waltzes?" He knew his own voice well enough to understand when he sounded accusing, and at that moment he sounded borderline disgusted, but she didn't seem to care.

"Yeah, gives me a steady beat to run to. What about you?"

"Symphonies. Brahms at the moment." He said haughtily. She laughed.

"Brahms? What're you trying to fall asleep while you jog?"

He glared at her reproachfully, trying to convey his best look of ireful scorn, but it had no effect; she just kept laughing. He was not one to be laughed at.

"Perhaps if your music player was not so archaic or your vision so impaired you would have seen me coming and we could have avoided this all together." He hissed.

The woman laughed, shocked. "Well, you're quite the feisty one aren't you, Sunshine?" She asked with a smile, "maybe if you hadn't been staring at your little new-fangled screen you would've seen _me_ comin'!"

"Do not call me such a childish name!" He said indignantly: never before had he met someone so inconsolably cheerful as the woman standing before him.

"I like you hair," she said suddenly, gesturing to the steely-gray mess he kept cut close to the neck. He quirked an eyebrow at her, baffled.

"Tell you what, stranger: I'll race you to the café across the lawn over there, see it? First one to a table wins. Loser buys the winner water, winner gets bragging rights and a pet name of their choice. Unless you what to tell me your real name…?"

"Sesshoumaru," he snipped.

She smiled. "I'm Rin; pleased to meet you. You ready?"

He nodded.

"Count with me," she said. So he did.

"One…two…three!"

And they were off.

Lol, I need to get off the one-liner bandwagon again.

Please review!


	10. 23: Candy, The Pull Part I

Chapter 6- #23- Candy

I'm so sorry guys! I'd give you a long list of excuses, but that'd take too long, so whatevs: on to the next chappie!

This is part one of a two-part installment using two of the required prompts and subtitled "The Pull." I don't know if that's technically legal in the Sanjuu Kisu world, but I've already broken the two month time limit rule, so who cares. ;P Part two won't be the next chappie though, Ima spread it out. And the reason for "The Pull" title will be explained in part two.

Songs: "Suite Judy Blue Eyes"- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, "I Can't Lie"- Maroon 5, "Man I Love"- Ella Fitzgerald

Setting: Modern day USA

Rin: Late twenties

Sesshoumaru: ?

'_Thoughts'_

On to the fic! :D

* * *

**The Pull, Part I: **

**Candy….**

…. She loved it. She loved chocolate, to be more precise. As a kid she poured, powdered, and doused everything with it, baking her first perfect chocolate croissant at the age of six. She was a natural cook and a fantastic pastry chef, and she had the diploma to prove it. It was her proudest moment when she opened the small chocolate shop; she said it was like her fairytale dream-come-true, and everyday she was surrounded by the smell of chocolate.

"Fairytales aren't made of chocolate, Rin-chan," her mother would say, "Happy endings are made of true love, not sweets."

Rin tried not to let those words sink in too much (_'somehow I don't think other women's mothers tell them to reach for a fairytale and not a career….')_ but occasionally, when business was slow or when she was tucked up in bed alone at night, she mourned her loneliness. But she always kept her chin up, sticking to the idea that there was someone out there just for her.

She didn't know if she believed that, though.

Wiping the counter down, she relished the silence in the shop for a moment. She always got a bit frazzled during lunch rush when she and her three employees churned out so many mocha beverages they could barely count them all. Rin took a deep breath, smiled to herself, and reached into the display case. She removed a dark chocolate covered cherry and popped it into her mouth.

A buzzer sounded in the back. Rin made her way to the kitchen, inhaling the smell of chocolate happily. Walking past her employees, who were playing cards around a chocolate-stained countertop, Rin shut off the timer on the large oven, and gingerly removed a fresh batch of croissants from its open maw. Moving them all to a cooler tray, she swept back into the storefront, setting them on the counter. Just as she slid the tray into place on the lowest shelf of the display case, the bells on the door rang happily. She stood up to greet the customer.

The afternoon light followed him in, wrapped around his figure like a halo. Rin would've said he was an angel had she not known any better. He would've said Rin was some form of divinity, like a siren, standing perfectly still with the light playing shadows across her face.

The sun continued its descent, hidden momentarily behind a building across the way. The two figures stared at one another. Rin could find no words to describe him other than "beautiful". His pale, chiseled face was marked in several different colors, his hair a stream of elegant silver falling down his back, his eyes the color of the sun. Rin had always thought youkai looked exotic, but she had never been so incredibly attracted to one before.

He looked at her and saw innocence mixed with wit and a clever tongue. Her brown hair seemed to shimmer like threads of bronze and her lightly freckled face was beset with a beautiful pair of tawny eyes flush with long lashes. He could not for the life of him understand what drew his eyes to her so strongly. What made this human woman so impossibly attractive to him, what about her had his youki running wild within him? He swore she could feel it, sense his unspoken attraction just as he could smell hers.

A car horn blared outside.

Startled, Rin laughed softly and shut her open mouth. Her customer did nothing but blink.

"Ah… hello," said Rin cheerily, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She was hopelessly aware that her face felt rather warm…

The businessman merely nodded, still gazing at Rin intently. There was an awkward silence. The man suddenly realized he was staring and turned away quickly, perusing the display case. There was another awkward silence before Rin got up the nerve to speak again.

"I don't think I've seen you before," she said. The man did not answer for a while as he examined the truffle selections.

"…And why should you have seen me before?" He replied at length never taking his eyes off the case.

"Well," said Rin, "because I own this place, and I don't forget many faces, leastways not one like yours…"

She was a bit shocked to find her thoughts dribbling out of her mouth and into the room, but tried to pass the comment off as one of intrigue for his markings. They made eye contact silently.

"I have never come here before… I do not like chocolate." He replied, tearing his eyes from the curve of her figure in her rich brown apron and focusing his attention on the pastries.

Rin laughed. "Don't like chocolate? Please, nobody doesn't like chocolate!"

He sent her an arrogant, cheeky look, one that emanated from his eyes but didn't touch his face. "Double negative," he quipped, head cocking to the side ever so slightly. Rin fought the urge to bite her lip- how could such a small movement be so _sexy_…?

She recovered with a roll of her eyes. "No one dislikes chocolate- you've probably never had the right kind. Some people have picky palettes. You look like you have a picky palette," she said with a quirky smile.

He glared at her softly. She chuckled.

"Perhaps," he said.

"Well there's a chocolate for everyone, even snotty chocolate haters like yourself," said Rin. Had she just sassed a customer…?

"Saito," He said, moving back towards Rin, "Saito Sesshoumaru."

Rin smiled, an exquisite smile as far as Sesshoumaru was concerned…

"Araki Rin. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Saito-san, chocolate hater," Rin said happily with a perky bow of the head. She was about to tell him that she liked his suit when her employees Joy and Buunza waltzed in from the kitchen.

"Hello!" they said simultaneously, smiling at Sesshoumaru. He bowed his head quickly looking irritable.

"We can take over if you'd like, Rin," Joy whispered pleasantly.

"Oh," said Rin, eyes darting to Sesshoumaru as he moseyed away from the counter and back towards the pastries. "I'm okay, Joy: why don't you guys take a break…"

Joy looked at her quizzically, "But Rin… we just took our break."

The whisker's twitched on Buunza's lynx-like face as he caught the scents of attraction lingering on the air. He looked at Rin as she tried to tell Joy to take another break while frequently glancing over her shoulder at Sesshoumaru. Buunza grabbed Joy's wrist.

"C'mon, Joy, let's not pass up that extra break, heh!" and with that he dragged her back into the kitchen, a bounce in his step, eager to tell the old sous-chef Yuko about this latest development.

Rin turned her attention back to Sesshoumaru. He continued glancing around the shop as though nothing interested him, trying not to look at the beautiful woman before him. He failed.

"I think I have just the one for you," her warm pink lips said with a smirk, and it was a while before her words registered in Sesshoumaru's mind. He glared at her suspiciously when she donned a pair of plastic gloves and removed a piece of chocolate from the display. Smiling proudly she held out her hand to him. Sesshoumaru's brows knit slightly and Rin laughed at his ridiculous reaction to being offered candy. He was so intriguing…

"Here," she said. Cautiously Sesshoumaru took the chocolate.

"I will not like it," he said snobbishly. Rin laughed again. He was frank and cold to the point of rudeness, and yet somehow this amused her and attracted her to him even more.

"You will, I promise," she said, folding her arms. "Are you scared? Don't worry, I only poison the ugly businessmen…" She winked without thinking. Sesshoumaru could not stifle his smirk in time and, flooded with a strange warmth in the light of her grin, he popped the chocolate into his mouth.

Ginger. He almost laughed. Ginger was a food he truly enjoyed, something that never bored his taste buds, and coupled with such a smooth and bitter dark chocolate and what tasted like a hint of salt… it was like perfection. He would never say so of course; his pride would be instantly squandered. His efforts at hiding his affection for the sweet were in vain: Rin was laughing, quiet but triumphant, her eyebrows raised in proud defiance.

Sesshoumaru sighed. "It is… good."

Rin laughed loudly this time. "Such high praise! But I expect coming from you I should be honored: you don't seem like a man who gives compliments on a regular basis…"

"On the contrary: this Sesshoumaru stopped here merely to tell you what a hideous shop you have, though I am sure you have been told so before," He said as impassively as he could.

"You're too kind," Rin replied coyly, pressing a hand to her heart in mock flattery. They locked eyes again and Sesshoumaru had the most intense urge to wrap an arm about her neck and kiss her with reckless abandonment. He felt certain that Rin would not mind in the slightest. He also felt certain that the phrase "reckless abandonment" had never once entered his mind before.

"Well," said Rin, breaking the silence again, "Other than to ridicule my business, what did you come here for Saito-san?"

"A gift." He replied.

"Oh?"

"Yes. For a baby shower."

"Well, all my chocolates are 100% organic and made with no preservatives, so nothing she should be afraid of eating: does she have any allergies?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head.

"Do you know what she might like?"

Sesshoumaru sent her a look that said "no" among many other things.

"Okay… tell me about her, then." Said Rin, leaning her elbows on the counter. Sesshoumaru sighed quietly.

"Kagome is a miko… my half-brother's mate. She says she likes chocolate, the shower is tonight, so… I am here."

Rin shook her head. "Tell me what she's like as a person."

"Annoying," Sesshoumaru responded.

"And?" Rin asked.

"Annoying," He replied. Rin laughed. Sesshoumaru liked the sound more than he cared to admit, and the more they spoke, the more at ease he felt. It felt to Rin as though they were old friends chatting for the first time after a long absence, hopelessly glad to be in each other's company again.

"And?" Rin asked again.

"And… what else is there?" Sesshoumaru blinked.

"You clearly lead a fascinating social life filled with fascinating people," said Rin and Sesshoumaru didn't know why he let her say it: he would never let anyone else speak to him in such way.

"So… is she really girly, your sister-in-law? Uh, bold or meek? Opinionated? Selfish? Selfless…?"

Sesshoumaru paused a moment. "She likes candy, is… loud and boisterous… always gets her way. Very opinionated, typically generous and ignorant enough to consent to be InuYasha's mate."

"InuYasha's your half-brother, right?" Rin asked. Sesshoumaru nodded. Rin furrowed her brows and put a finger to her chin, nodding slowly.

"Alright," she said, "I think I've got the general idea…how many would you like to get? I've got boxes of 20, 40, 60…"

"60," said Sesshoumaru. "Okay," Rin said as she set about filling a box with ginger rounds, dark chocolate covered orange rinds, dark chocolate covered cherries, earl grey truffles, her special mini peanut butter cups and a host of other delicious confections. When she finished, she wrapped the box in gold paper and tied an elegant bow with a pretty brown ribbon bearing the label "Araki Chocolates".

"It'll come to 65 total," she said.

"And a dozen of those," said Sesshoumaru as quietly as he could, pointing at the ginger rounds with as much dignity as he could muster.

Rin positively beamed. "Just in case Kagome-san wants more, right?"

Sesshoumaru said nothing as Rin happily rang him up. Once Sesshoumaru had signed his name on the receipt and Rin had handed him the plastic bag full of chocolates, she realized that they would have to part ways. Her heartbeat quickened dramatically and she hoped to God the taiyoukai wouldn't notice.

They looked at each other for a moment, quiet and studious, trying to memorize every detail of each other's faces. Then Rin handed Sesshoumaru his bag, thanked him for his business and wished him a good day, and Sesshoumaru jerked his head down in a make-shift bow and swept out the door and into the afternoon sun, the strand of bells on the door ringing in the empty shop long after he'd disappeared; the sunlight kissing the place where he had stood mere minutes before. Rin sighed and looked longingly at the door, feeling suddenly certain about the reality of love at first sight. It was mere seconds before Yuko burst through the kitchen doors waving a tray of eclairs and talking loudly about shameless flirting, but Rin was too preoccupied with staring out of the front windows, wondering which car passing the shop was his.

* * *

Thanks for reading y'all, hope you enjoyed! Until next time. :D Please review!


	11. 8: Our Own World

Our Own World

Chapter Nine- #8

Hey everyone! Been a while, so I figured I owed you one. I'm in a fiction writing class now and it's loads of fun, so I've been feeling like writing much more than usual. So, more to come! This one's been sitting around for a while with no direct ties to any one prompt, so I just thought I'd use this one and git 'er done. :) Forgive the writing, it's not my best: the majority of it was written last year, so there's a bit of a time stamp on it. Anyway, onward!

I can't remember any music in particular, so just put on something you like a lot. :)

Setting: The planet Terra, an Earth colony that has been radicalized

Sesshoumaru: 67 years old

Rin: Late twenties

Youkai do exist in this ficlet.

* * *

**Our Own World**

The lights burned his eyes as they emerged onstage. It was to be expected, since the bright white lights above the audience were from 100-watt lamps. And also because he had been locked in a damp holding cell for the last three days: light was not something he was used to.

The crowd was roaring with life as they led him out to the circular platform at the front of the stage. It jutted out into the audience, if you could call it that, a mosh pit of yelling chaos from men in fine suits, their wives sitting close with heads lowered trying to block out the din. He glared out at the despised faces and held his head high, his bright yellow eyes darting two and fro beneath unkempt white bangs. The four men who held him; one behind him, two gripping his arms, and the fourth gripping the chain attached to his collar, relinquished him to a new man as they reached the dais. In his crisp white collared shirt and stark black pants, he was an image of elegance, but his purple eyes were tired and wary. He took the chain at his captive's neck and looked him up and down as the prisoner stepped onto the platform.

"Sesshoumaru," Miroku whispered as quietly as he could, "are you alright?"

Sesshoumaru looked at him blankly.

"Guess not," said Miroku. "Alright, let's get it over with." He gripped Sesshoumaru's chain and gave him an apologetic look before turning and marching his captive to the edge of the stage. Miroku stood at the podium, shot one last pitying glance at the impassive Sesshoumaru, and began to speak.

"Pet number 146721, Inu Taiyoukai male aged 67 years. Excellent strength, one of the most durable and strongest pets we have ever had. Very quiet, he won't bother you with incessant chatting."

The crowd laughed and fanned themselves with their bid numbers. Miroku pretended to laugh and licked his lips.

"Very good history as a body guard or security escort, excellent form and combat skills. Positive physical characteristics include attractive facial features and physical features, as well as pointed ears and long silver hair. Uh, remove his clothes please…"

Sesshoumaru looked out into the crowd at the glaring lights from the mezzanine as several attendants marched on and stripped him of everything but the pair of briefs he was wearing. Members of the audience cheered to see his muscles and the scars all along his body. He didn't care. Miroku read out his list of misdemeanors and the crowd hissed and booed in response, but he was not listening. He simply could not find the energy to care.

"Let's start the bidding at 900, do I hear more?"

He shut his eyes as the din in the auditorium grew louder and louder. His ears were ringing with the shouts of the humans below him. He almost chuckled. Was he really going to go for so little?

"Yes sir, 1500 from Mr. Jamison in the back, do I hear 2000? 2000, 2000, do I-yes! 2000 from the gentleman here, do I hear 2500?"

Miroku was very good at his job. In the days before Terra was overrun by insurgents, and the possibility of a totalitarian regime was a joke, Miroku had often kidded that he would make a fantastic auctioneer. He couldn't decide what he wanted to do more: auction things away, or catch a shuttle back to Earth. Sesshoumaru wished that the latter option were still a choice. Now he stood as a pet for the highest bidder, and Miroku was as pale as a sheet as he auctioned his friend's life away.

"3000 from Mrs. Malgrave, 3000-Oh, and Mr. Jamison in back with 5000, thank you, sir! Mrs. Malgrave with 5500, thank you- do I hear more?" Miroku's purple eyes scanned the packed house. Sesshoumaru watched them land on someone and caught Miroku's sharp nod out of the corner of his eye. Then it was back to the task at hand.

"6500 from Mr. Jamison now and- Oh! I hear 7500 from Mrs. Malgrave, unbelievable! Do I hear more from Mr. Jamison? 8000, anybody, 8000- 8000 to Mr. Jamison! 8000 going-no! Mrs. Malgrave with 9500, Malgrave has it…No, Jamison! Jamison with a bid of 15,000, that's 15,000 dollars. Do I hear more?"

The audience had quieted. Sesshoumaru looked out at Mr. Jamison's silhouette, smug and rotund in the back of the house. His next occupation was not going to be pleasant. Miroku obviously agreed, for he swallowed rather loudly and pulled at the collar of his shirt.

"15,000 going once….twice…" He swallowed again, "…sol-wait! What is this? I hear 30,000 from Ms. Karana in the back, 30,000! 30,000 going once, going twice…sold! Pet number 146721 to Ms. Rin Karana for 30,000 dollars." Miroku looked so relieved, he practically danced away from the microphone.

He smiled at Sesshoumaru as he took up the leash. Sesshoumaru quirked a silver brow at him. As the audience applauded, they walked towards the stairs at stage left. A woman was slowly coming into view as she walked down the aisle towards them. Sesshoumaru could make out long brown hair and a nice figure as she marched towards him.

"Sesshoumaru," Miroku whispered as quietly as possible, "don't worry man, I know her. She's in the resistance. She'll take care of you, I promise."

They were at the top of the stairs. "Be nice to her, now." Said Miroku as Sesshoumaru smirked a bit, "she's a friend. Good luck, pal, I'll see you sooner than you think…" And with that, Miroku led Sesshoumaru down the stairs and, still smiling, placed his friend's silver chain in the hands of what Sesshoumaru could now see was a short young woman.

She looked scared to death as she circled him like a hawk, as was tradition. Miroku watched nervously from the side. Sesshoumaru stared straight ahead; he knew the drill. Rin brought a hand to his chest and made several thoughtful noises. The hand on his abs was shaking furiously. He felt the corner of his mouth upturn slightly: if she was clearly upset by the simplest evaluation of her new pet, then surely he would have no trouble at all getting his way.

But after what felt like an hour of measuring Sesshoumaru and circling him like a vulture, Rin looked up and met his eyes. She wished she hadn't. His eyes were calm, and expressive, and the most beautiful gold color she had ever seen. She was immediately aware that eye contact between pet and master was unacceptable for more than five seconds. She pretended to adjust her hair as she looked away and gave the chain a tug. Quietly, Sesshoumaru followed after her. He sent one look back to Miroku, who was standing at the dais. Miroku gave him as much of a smile as he could manage before the crowd, and motioned for the next pet to be led out.

The sunlight blinded Sesshoumaru as his new "mistress" led him to the car waiting out front. Rin started the car and Sesshoumaru sat stock still with his knees folded up in the passenger seat. When they were a mile out, Rin began to laugh. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Oops," Rin said. She pressed a button at the base of Sesshoumaru's seat and it began to move backwards to accommodate his legs. "Thought I was going to be getting a girl, but when Miroku told me about you, I knew I had to help…"

They had reached a red light. Rin turned and smiled at him. He could see now that she was very attractive for a human, beautiful by their standards, perhaps. She had shimmering brown eyes and luxurious long brown hair to match. She seemed all smiles.

"I'm sorry I acted like that back there; have to keep up appearances so no one suspects." She smiled wider. "I'm Rin." She held out her hand. Sesshoumaru ignored it as the light turned green.

Rin appeared unphased and drove on, shrugging her shoulders. "Do you have a name?" She asked. Sesshoumaru said and did nothing. This still did not upset the woman, and she continued chatting, aware that he wasn't going to answer. She talked about "the good old days" and her few childhood memories of Earth.

They pulled up to a starch-white modern mansion, all rectangles and corners. Though the large white structure was nothing like the woman who owned it, the garden was. Flowers were everywhere: in pots, in beds, on balconies and crawling up the walls. Rin had clearly wasted no time in finding every perennial flowering plant on all of Terra and planting them all over her property.

"Do you like my garden?" She asked Sesshoumaru as they ascended the steps to the house. He, of course, did not reply. Rin smiled.

"I think it brings color to everything. Even if it's a dismal day and the whole planet seems like it's falling into even more chaos, the flowers are always colorful, still shining through all the gray and misery."

She led him through the house, explaining where everything was, and put him in a spacious bedroom with a double bed on the first floor. She chattered on about redecorating if he would like and of course going to shop for clothes the next day.

"And um, you can wear this robe for now." Rin said, handing him a white cotton robe, which he slung over his shoulders.

"I'm sorry I don't have any clothes for you- like I said, I was expecting a girl and, well…" She opened the doors to the boudoir and pulled out a pink tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants with flowers on the side. She laughed and turned a little red under his stare, putting the objects back.

"Um so… I don't really have any rules. You will I'm afraid have to uh 'assist' me around the house occasionally and help me organize things, just for appearances sake. But other than that, no rules. Do what you want, say what you want, eat what you want… God, I shouldn't have to tell these things to a grown man…" She became slightly frustrated and balled her hands into fists at her sides. Sesshoumaru looked at her quizzically. She sighed and unclenched her hands.

"Um, don't worry about being watched or anything, I know a lot of people have their houses monitored, but I only have cameras on the front and back doors and the driveway, and I've a got a veil around the property, so feel free to do whatever you like." At the mention of the sonic barrier around the house, Sesshoumaru felt a wave of relief wash over him, but he did not make it apparent to Rin.

"So really, pay no mind to the pet code, I don't care what you do. If you wanna set fire to the curtains, be my guest!" She laughed, and then cocked her head. "No, I actually like these curtains, but you can burn the ones in the den, they're hideous."

Sesshoumaru stared at the human. She was smiling kindly with a slight flush on her face, still apparently not quite comfortable with the situation.

"Well, it'll be time for dinner soon, and I was thinking of ordering out: anything you'd like in particular?" Rin asked cheerily.

Sesshoumaru stared back.

Rin chewed her lip. "Right." She stood for a moment, apparently unsure of what to do, then gave an awkward wave and a nervous smile before backing through the doorway and towards the stairs.

"Sesshoumaru." Said the youkai quietly.

Rin's head popped up around the doorframe. "Is that a food?"

He blinked. "It is my name."

Rin grinned. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sesshoumaru." She said pleasantly, then danced off towards the stairs.

Sesshoumaru watched her go indifferently before rising from the bed and moving to the window. He drew back the curtains and looked out at the sun-kissed yard, splashed with bright flowers and blossoming trees. It was the first window he had seen in months. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, resting his head against the cool glass and placing his lips to the surface gently. This, he thought, this he could get used to.

* * *

Please review! :D


	12. 22: Cradle

Chapter 10 – Number 23

Cradle

Hey guys! Happy late Thanksgiving and early holidays! :)

Soundtrack: "Time"- Hans Zimmer- from "Inception"- but mostly "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay"- Otis Redding. I didn't actually realize the similarity between "Dock of the Bay" and this story until I had started writing and it popped up on shuffle in my iTunes library. I think it really fits this ficlet like a glove.

Rating: T for naughty words ;P

Setting: Modern day AU, USA; youkai exist

Rin: Late twenties

Sesshoumaru: ?

Dedicated to **irishSparrow67**, who reviewed the majority of the ficlets herein in one day. Thanks for your wonderful kindness and encouragement. :)

* * *

"_I can't do what ten people tell me to do, so I guess I'll remain the same… just sittin' here resting my bones, and this loneliness won't leave me alone. It's ten thousand miles I've roamed, just to make this dock my home, now I'm just sittin' at the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away, sittin' on the dock of the bay, wasting time… "_

**Cradle**

The wind was strong up in the hills that day and it smelled of yesterday's sweet rain and the coming of Summer. Rin sat on a picnic table bench at the Hanako scenic lookout, named for an old woman who would come eat her lunch there, day in day out, for forty-three years, until her death. Rin thought it was fitting that this was one of her most cherished places on the planet, owing in particular to the fact that on this specific day she felt dry and brittle and ready to root herself to the bench and never leave, never facing her life again.

She let the wind toss her hair back and forth as though it were a badminton birdie in a heated game between two gusts and watched knots twist themselves into being as the strands struggled to stay flat against her back. She was content to stay there; a little cold, a little warm; until her hair had worked itself into a massive rat's nest, and even until it became a tightly wound dreadlock. But she would not get the chance.

She heard the car idling behind her and recognized the sound of his engine. She supposed he, like her, was debating whether or not to stay in place; root himself to the spot and thus avoid moving forward. But the engine clicked off and the opening and closing of a car door could be heard, so Rin knew he had decided to move, at least for the time being.

He took a moment to look at the ugly brown cradle, decrepit and aging, in the hatch of her car and to examine the nasty checkered-yellow mattress that was clearly made decades earlier. Then he moved towards her, and every step seemed to take him an hour. She lowered her head and watched his black leather shoes loop around the feet of the picnic table in a wide, quiet arc before coming to rest tentatively in front of her, a sort of tenseness hanging about the heels, as though at any minute they would leap back and make a run for it.

"Rin."

She refused to meet his eyes. He remained silent for a moment. His silver hair attacked his face, and he spit strands out of his mouth distractedly before addressing her again.

"Why have you not returned this Sesshoumaru's calls?"

She gave no response to his question and instead asked one of her own. "Who told you?" It was quiet, placid, and small. He waited a while to answer her.

"Inuyasha," He said softly, before biting out: "because no one else had the gall to tell me what you would not."

She was playing with a loose string in her tweed skirt, eyes in her lap, so as to continue to avoid looking at him. He dropped to a squat quickly and stared through the curtain of her hair and into her wet brown eyes, his own eyes shining with a brilliant gleam so profoundly painful, lost, and determined that Rin wanted to cry out and embrace him, but she resisted the urge and trembled slightly instead.

"Rin." He said again, more forcefully this time around.

At last she lifted her head and her hair flew back about her shoulders along with crystalline teardrops that landed, glistening, on several stray loops of hair. Her eyes were mournful and he could tell that these tears, though fresh, were not the first to have visited her. Her face was red with crying, her nose glistened from the affection of several thoughtful tissues, and her freckles seemed like stains of remorse dotting her cheeks with anxiety. She gave him a glare that was both hard and soft, hot tears pouring from her eyes even as she released her voice in a scathingly quiet tone.

"What was I supposed to do, Sesshoumaru? Come round to your apartment with a fucking fruit basket, ring your doorbell and say 'Hey, Sesshoumaru! I'm pregnant, and you're the father! Want a pear?'"

She buried her face in her hands and wrapped her fingers in her hair. Sesshoumaru hesitantly reached out to touch her back as she shook, but she recovered and sat bolt upright, gingerly prodding her nose with the back of her hand in an effort to keep it from running. It was no good, so she pulled a pack of tissues from her pocket, removed one, and blew her nose.

"You could have called…" said Sesshoumaru quietly.

Rin wiped her nose and folded the tissue, then placed the clean side back against her nose again, avoiding eye contact. "I heard you were back with Kagura," she said, "…and I don't really know what I would've done if she'd picked up the phone."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "Who told you that?"

Rin didn't answer.

"Who told you that?" he repeated sternly, staring at her intently with eyes like firelight.

"Is it true?" asked Rin.

"No," said Sesshoumaru, "who told you?"

Rin didn't want to feel so relieved, but she felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Ayame did," she said, "before she knew I was pregnant." She stumbled on the word "pregnant" every time she said it.

Sesshoumaru tossed his head back and made a face that was as close to a roll of the eyes as he would ever get. "Ayame is a fool and nothing that leaves her mouth should ever be taken seriously."

Rin gave a small chuckle and nodded weakly. The tears had made her head throb something awful.

"This Sesshoumaru saw Kagura in passing and agreed to have coffee with her. Ayame was in the shop and naturally jumped to the wrong conclusion."

They were both silent for a moment.

"Rin," said Sesshoumaru as he stood, "Inuyasha was the one to inform me. _Inuyasha_. Can you not fathom how horrible that is? To leave me to find out from my goddamn half-brother that you-!"

"I couldn't do it, okay! I just couldn't!" She shook her head, which only made her headache much more aggravated, and stared at him with shining eyes.

Sesshoumaru was quiet for a moment, watching her.

Slowly he asked, "…Is it because of this Sesshoumaru's… history… with hanyous?"

Rin shook her head and laughed. "No! I know that's all an act."

Sesshoumaru felt as though he'd been smacked in the face. Not even _he_ knew until that very moment that it was all an act.

"… I just…" Rin stopped for a moment, gathered her thoughts, and sputtered: "I couldn't just talk to you again, just like that- I mean we only went out those four times! I was afraid to talk to you because I didn't want to deal with missing you anymore than I already…"

She paused and looked at him shakily. He was perfectly still.

She sighed, huffed, and shrugged with a weary smile. "I do. Heh, I do. And I didn't want you to know, in case you don't want joint custody or something, and I would have to just get used to being around you and acting like I don't care about you at all."

She became enthused, and seemed to sit up straighter, a fiery burst of honesty giving her wings. "But I do, you know, "she said, blinking rapidly as she looked at him, "I do. I think I love you. Which sucks, but I just have to deal with it, and you're gonna have to deal with it too, and that's just how it is. So get used to it, because we definitely have bigger fish to fry here, so…."

She trailed off and inhaled slowly. Sesshoumaru blinked back at her. They both sat still, tense with anticipation.

"Say something," said Rin.

Sesshoumaru said nothing. Instead, he crouched back down again and took Rin's face in his hands, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, her cheeks, her mouth. They stayed there for a while, barely moving, before Sesshoumaru leaned back, brushing Rin's bangs from her face. She smiled at him, relieved, comforted: feeling utterly safe.

"So," Sesshoumaru said at length, "are we really going to do this?"

"I'm game if you are," said Rin with a smile. Sesshoumaru nodded and rubbed her jaw line gently with his thumb. She put her hand over his and held it warmly. Sesshoumaru withdrew and looked at her intensely.

"I have one condition." He said.

Rin tensed. "What?" she asked fearfully.

He looked in the direction of her car.

"You take that thing back to where it came from. What is it?" He said, nodding towards the brown-and-yellow mass in Rin's car. She laughed, relieved.

"It's a cradle, what's it look like?"

"An abomination. No child of this Sesshoumaru's is going to be sleeping in a cradle that appears to have been made out of stolen table legs and heinous curtains."

Rin laughed loud and long and Sesshoumaru stood, giving her the closest thing to a smile he had ever mustered. Rin returned it happily and wiped the last of the tears from her eyes.

"I can't take it back," she said, "I picked it up at a yard sale today."

"How much did you pay for it?"

"40 bucks," said Rin proudly.

"Woman, are you insane? For that piece of trash?"

Rin laughed again, full and heartwarming.

"We will go back to where you found it and demand your money be refunded."

"No!" Cried Rin, still laughing, "Why don't we just wait around the corner 'til the woman goes in the house, then leave it and drive off?"

Sesshoumaru considered this.

"Acceptable," he said, and held out his hand to Rin. She took it with a broad smile.

"I drive my car, you follow?" Asked Rin. Sesshoumaru nodded, pulling her off the bench and back towards the cars, Rin laughing excitedly all the way.

* * *

Herp derp done! Also: I think that might be the first time I've ever mentioned Kagura in one of these one-shots. Lol.

Anyway, hope you liked it! Please review!


End file.
